I think that fringe theatre is a bit ill-defined. Is a show fringe because of the intimacy of the space? How close the viewer is to the actor? Then is Punch Drunk: Sleep No More fringe? They literally touched the audience. Is a show fringe because of the budget? Is it fringe if it is Indy and underground? Then why wasn’t any show we saw at the globe fringe? Everyone knows A Midsummer Night’s Dream but it seemed like it did not cost a lot to put on. How about when lie five people came into my room to watch Paddington? I spent no more on that and it was a small audience. I guess I don’t really get what fringe is and it is just something I have to play by ear and feel in my heart of hearts.
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying was a very interesting show, to say the least. The show follows a young man as he works his way up the corporate ladder by reading a book that details exactly what he is doing. The young man falls in love but does not let love stand in the way of his career–much to the chagrin of his pursuer whom he constantly puts aside.–the young man is effectively a cunning silver-tongued cheat who makes the title of the show come to fruition over and over again.
This show could never be made today. Luckily it wasn’t. It was made years and years ago and it shows. This production attempts to make up for the sexism and stereotypes by casting gender swaps of several of the leads. The young man and his lover were gender-swapped, as well as the big businessman being cast as a woman. Now all of that being said they did not change the script at all. They were simply played by women/men. It was still the Brotherhood of Man. The show could have gone further in its casting choices. Instead of just a few people being gender-swapped, they should have just had that be part of the world. Their desired effect of “we are all the same” did not land with this cast. They were still cartoonishly sexist.
This show was in a very small room with a very small audience but what I think made it truly fringe was the lack of AC. It was so hot in that theatre (and I don’t get hot.) I could see each actor glistening with sweat. I felt a mild kinship with the actors as we all suffered through the insane temperatures of the theatre. Maybe that’s what fringe is…everyone suffering the consequences of a small theatre.
Also, I did not know that one Family Guy song was a parody of this show.
Theatre in London U of A 