Theatre/comedy reviews: I Love You! And You... And You... | The Exquisite Corpse | Death By Chocolate | Playback Theatre | Office Party | Joke-e-oke | The Liar Show

Published on Wednesday 6 August 2008 09:37

THEATRE I LOVE YOU! AND YOU. . . AND YOU. . . * C CUBED (VENUE 50)

THE EXQUISITE CORPSE

***

C (VENUE 34)

DEATH BY CHOCOLATE: AN INTERACTIVE MURDER MYSTERY WITH CHOCOLATE TASTING

***

ZOO SOUTHSIDE (VENUE 82)

PLAYBACK THEATRE

**

DIVERSE ATTRACTIONS (VENUE 11)

COMEDY

OFFICE PARTY

*****

UDDERBELLY'S PASTURE (VENUE 300)

JOKE-E-OKE

**

THE GRV (VENUE 274)

THE LIAR SHOW

****

UNDERBELLY (VENUE 61)

IT'S a truth universally acknowledged that everybody wants to get in on the act, and a host of shows invite participation this year.

Now, if only playwright Ellen Cribbs had consulted an audience while penning I Love You! And You ... And You ..., she'd have known that life may be repetitious and banal, but theatre must be, well, dramatic. Caroline Aherne she's not. Her play about finding and losing love is less stimulating than watching the neighbours shop for groceries, and performed by students from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School who require extra tuition. By the time we were asked to vote for the woman Mark should spend his life with, I'd surrendered my own will to live.

Attendees at The Exquisite Corpse select the running order for its 15 scenes. (NB: Arrive early; technical logistics necessitate a head start.)

Five Welsh playwrights and 15 scenes make for some six million possibilities. My show began with scene 7 – on the roof of a block of flats – and ended with number 15 – a man, alone. In look, it's highly stylised, featuring projected images and video, and actor-enabled shifts of scenery and costume.

Intense by necessity, the actors are superb, better, even, than their material. (All deserve top marks, and if I pick out the riveting Alex Beckett's moving soliloquy as a hospitalised man, or Matthew Bulgo's deadpan angel of death (rigged out like Vettriano's Dancing Butler), that's not to slight the others. The level of craftsmanship mustered to make the show's central premise appear effortless deserves our applause.)

The scenes themselves are puzzling and perhaps they would remain so even "in order". Are these recurring characters, archetypes or both? One family or several? Is there an actual plot or plots, and how do the threads interweave? And what are we to make of Angharad Devonald's dog visiting his psychiatrist and elves performing some nocturnal cobbling? They're delightful but oddly juxtaposed against the general sense of doom and gloom.

I'd be curious to see this again, but that's impossible. Then again, employing the theatrical equivalent of iPod shuffle reminds us of the importance of perspective and the countless ways to tease out themes. It's intriguing, well acted, and worthy of your attention.

In contrast, Playback Theatre felt like an internment at a low-budget actors' lab cum therapy session. Stern Tig led her Am Dram compatriots and the audience through a series of re-enacted "moments" from life. We shared the troupe's arrival in Edinburgh and horror on finding the promised four-bedroom flat had but three. Oh the drama!

This didn't inspire the audience sufficiently, so we were encouraged, nay, berated, to share with strangers, by way of loosening us up, and then prodded to offer our newly strafed psyches to the troupe. One chap hijacked the show with his Al Jolson imitation; a woman remembered her escape from a knife-wielding attacker. Neither story benefited from dramatic re-creation, though the not untalented actors gave it their best. Then Tig's post-mortems ("What was important for you to see there?") made us squirm. Perfect for anyone missing the strictures of school.

Another premise that looks great on paper is Joke-e-Oke, promising all the fun of karaoke, only with quips. Why didn't it work, then? What people enjoy about karaoke is its unpredictable car-crash anarchy. Enforcing zaniness, as they do here, wrecks the atmosphere, evoking the feel of excruciating Saturday morning children's telly.

Of course this show is only as good as its participants. The night I dropped in, punters imitated Russell Peters, Reg Hunter and Lewis Black, and brave Drew parodied Rick Shapiro with Rick right there in the room (the kid was terrific and went on to win). Predictable laughs were raised by Eleanor's "set" of Dom Irrera's gags about testicles and jizz.

Happier times are to be had in the hands of stand-up professionals at The Liar Show, telling gripping personal stories. Three are true, one entirely fabricated. The audience is invited to grill them on the specifics and then vote. Guess correctly you win a prize! My crew consisted of adorable Carey Marx, describing an unusual date; wonderful Ophira Eisenberg confessing to sex with a mad collector; Peter Lubell's wry tale of celeb spotting; and Jason John Whitehead's rambling saga about his trip to an American theme park. Some story-tellers return, but the tales are always different, so the show's never stale and can be revisited.

The audience was a hoot, as well, ganging up on Whitehead, who had us in stitches trying to defend his stoner's inability to remember detail. Clever us, we did spot the liar, and it was satisfying hurling our abuse. In short: good premise, fun show, great execution, and a chance to sample comedic talents you might not know about, so it also functions as a highly effective sampler for future fringe picks. A winner.

Death By Chocolate, an interactive theatre event, proved another audience pleaser, and not only because of the plentiful supply of candy.

We, the people, play student detectives solving the murder of AJ Oak, found poisoned at a singles chocolate tasting. Scattered around the room are trays with the personal effects of all the suspects – rifle through, sifting for clues – and all are on hand for interrogation. The game young cast work hard, keeping in character no matter what, improvising answers to the most arcane of questions, and advancing the plot by hurling accusations, taking the hump about "planted" evidence, and dishing the dirt about plot twists.

Best to attend with friends so you can work as a team. At the close, all come together to discuss the clues – and it's a rather seamy tale. I won't spoil it with details, since the fun's in the detection.

Though not my cup of hot cocoa, I can attest that the crowd thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I'm reserving the fourth star because it's an ongoing investigation – we had to leave without a resolution, and given cards with info about a website where all will be revealed at summer's end.

Finally, my favourite, Office Party. I was dragged there kicking and screaming – office dos being a particular bugbear of mine – and I was dragged out kicking and screaming: I didn't want to leave!

Ingeniously held in a real office block, the show makes great use of the space. It also calls upon top-drawer talent that includes Chris Green (aka Tina C), Ursula Martinez, Glen Wool and director Cal McCrystal. We promised that what happens at Office Party stays at Office Party, so I won't reveal too many specifics, but highlights include nudity, rude singing, dancing, contests, even acrobatics. You'll also make new friends. By the night's end Stuart was earnestly reassuring me that come Monday, he'd not breathe a word about my outrageous behaviour. Never mind that I wasn't the one bum-dancing with a beer in my hand or singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody.

On entry you are assigned to a department and encouraged to buy a drink and mill around. So far, so lifelike. In fact, the whole night was so confusingly realistic that we kept asking the more amusing partiers (such as the guy who asked what happened to his bonuses) if they were punters or actors. The jury's still out on whether my department's line dancers were there with Tina C, or ingenious audience members.

Office Party is unrealistic in the most fabulous way: it's superbly conceived, endlessly entertaining, and everyone has a spectacular time. Go with friends. You won't regret it.

• I love You! And You ... And You ... , until 25 August, today 6.45 . The Exquisite Corpse, until 25 August, today 6.40pm. Death By Chocolate: An Interactive Murder Mystery With Chocolate Tasting, until 24 August, today 6pm. Office Party, until 25 August, today 8pm. Joke-e-Oke. until 25 August, today 9pm. Playback Theatre. until 9 August. The Liar Show, until 25 August, today 6.35pm