Hello, hello!! This post is coming to you all a little late, so allow me to take you back in time to before we left London. It’s time to talk about some fringe theatre!! The fringe theatre scene in London is spectacular, and I was lucky enough to see three different fringe shows outside of our group excursions! I also had the privilege of watching Bluets, our one group fringe show, just before leaving London. The long story short of my experience at these shows is that fringe theatre is where it’s at!! I was so excited to see a smaller show because it’s incredible to see the potential those productions have and watch how they use smaller spaces tell a compelling story. For this blog, I will be focusing on the three shows I saw outside of the group excursions. Bluets was a really cool experience, but I think I need more time to collect my thoughts on that piece before reviewing it. So buckle up, and get ready to hear about Sophie’s Surprise 29th, No Love Songs, and English. Spoiler, all three of them were spectacular!!
Sophie’s Surprise 29th
Okay, this show was a wild ride! From start to finish, my jaw was on the floor, and the skill of the performers was unmatched. This show is a cabaret style piece in which the different characters perform incredible, daring, and at times scandalous acrobatic feats. There was stand up comedy (in the nude), aerial acrobatics, roller skating like you’ve never seen before, and more. While the plot was very loose, as this show is more about the stunts, it was still there and was very humorous. The performers did an incredible job staying in character, and the audience interaction was next level funny. They were so compelling, and it takes a lot of skill to look like a dead inside, emo boy while flying through the air doing flips. (Seriously, go see this show if you can.) The lighting for this show was extravagant in the best way, and it set the scene for each performance perfectly. The sound design and music choices were also wonderful (if at times a bit loud). Overall, this show was rip-roaring, good time. If you want to be completely immersed in a show (more so than you’ve imagined before) and are looking for a fun night out, this show is the one for you.
No Love Songs
This was perhaps my favorite of the fringe shows I saw. Performed at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant, it tell the incredibly moving story of a couple having a child and facing the challenges and victories that come with that. The story is told largely through the music that the characters say is the soundtrack to their lives, and it makes for some beautiful moments. Music is powerful, and this production uses that to its advantage in a way I’ve never seen before. The space this show was set in was a very small, intimate blackbox, and Kaylee, Cori, and I were lucky enough to be upgraded to the front row because there were extra seats. (I’m not sure how there was an empty seat in the house with how incredible the show is.) But no complaints from me because it was an amazing experience. The script for this show is so moving, and the lighting design was excellent. I was particularly impressed by the lighting design because it can be difficult at times to do what you want in a small space like that. While the story and tech elements were spectacular, I think it was the actors that made this production. They were some of, if not the, best actors I saw on the trip. Their performances were incredibly compelling, their voices were stunning, and they had an incredible grasp on how to use the music to play action and tell a story. They were never just singing, and they were alive every second they were on stage. In short, this was one of the most compelling shows I saw in London.
English
Oh my word! This production was so moving, funny, inventive, and all around wonderful. The plot centers around a group of Iranian students who are taking an English class in hopes of passing the Test of English as a Foreign Language. Each student has their own personal reasons for wanting to learn English, and their conflicts and shared goals make for a compelling story that effectively builds empathy in the audience. The students must grapple with their desire to learn another language and their fear of losing themselves and who they are. It is a beautiful story and one that talks about a subject matter not often addressed. The actors all gave incredible performances, and they masterfully switched between accents throughout the show in order to differentiate when they were speaking Farsi and when they were speaking English. The use of accents to make this distinction was a clever and very effective way to show the audience when languages were changing while still remaining in a language the audience would understand. The actors were also so alive, and I couldn’t help but sympathize with all of them. The set, lighting, and sound design for the show were also wonderful. I could not see about 1/3 of the set from the side, balcony seats, but I was warned about the restricted view when I bought the tickets. I do not think there is much that could be changed in the set design to make it more visible without cutting out half the playing space, but it could have been angled slightly better. Despite the restricted view, this was one of the best shows I saw in London, and it reminded me of the incredible power and responsibility theatre has to tell stories of impact. The representation in this show is so valuable, and the story brings an experience that likely very few people in the London audience have had to the spotlight in order to build understanding and empathy.
I have loved all my fringe theatre experiences in London, and watching all these incredible shows has inspired me to make more theatre whenever and wherever I can. The impact of these productions proves that you don’t need a large, magnificent space to put on a good show. You just need a good story and people who care enough about it to put it in front of people.
Till next time!!
Theatre in London U of A 