| Cloth comedian warms our hearts |
At Hijinx Theatre |
| Meet Fred , Chapter , January 20, 2017 |
I’ve just met Fred. I’ve had the invitation to meet him for some time. He wanted to meet me in Edinburgh last year but I couldn’t make it. I’m so glad I was able to go and meet him today. He was so welcoming, so full of charm and totally engaging. I came away from our meeting feeling very warm inside and a very big smile on my face. And it was not just me. There were nearly a hundred of us there. We all poured out of Chapter’s front door with this extraordinary feel-good reaction glowing out of us all.And who or what was Fred? This was a puzzle to us all from the moment we met him! He was giving us several chapters from the story of his life. But he was two feet of skinny white cloth with even skinnier arms and legs. As well as Fred I have to thank those three lively lads, all moonlighting from their day-job as actors Aled Herbert, Sam Harding and Dan McGowan who gave Fred his rascally voice - after they had taken him out of his box. Fred and his story, written and directed by Hijinx’ Artistic Director Ben Pettit -Wade after a visit to Hijinx’ very successful Cardiff Academy, set up in 2012 to equip actors with learning disabilities to perform along side actors without disabilities in the company’s professional productions, by the internationally renown Puppet Company, Blind Summit. Blind Summit introduced Hijinx to Bunraku, a long established, three-man form of Japanese puppetry. It is an extremely difficult skill to master but in an amazingly short time the Hijinx team have become subtle masters. There is real social satire at the heart of Fred’s story exposing many of the authoritarian frustrations we all suffer, expressed in a perfect cutting manner by Richard Newnham as the Job Centre oaf. Imagine how you would feel if you were a puppet at the Job Centre where you are being threatened with losing your PLA (Puppet Living Allowance) or even worse one of your puppeteers! The only appropriate job they can come up with is Children’s’ Entertainer but Fred asserts he is a grown ups puppet. But soon, with lots of audience participation, at one point we all give the director a good booing; we join Fred at one of his children’s parties. Like most of the incidents in Fred’s life it ends disastrously. His on-line dating experience with the lovely Lucille, another wonderful and joyful performance from Lindsay Foster, has us all bellyaching with laughter. The production has a Brechtian touch to it. The director frequently appears on the stage arguing with Fred. He also barks instructions at Martin, the stage manger, a beautiful performance by long time Hijinx actor, Gareth John. Fred gets the better of the director who throws in the towel and walks out on everybody after he has totally humiliated the willing stage manager. Fred empathises with Martin and despite having suffered many difficulties himself, he makes Martin’s day just before this amazing adventure comes to an end. There’s rain, there’s wind, thunder and a huge snowstorm brought about by an electric fan and Lucille with a lot of cotton wool. It’s no wonder Fred considers ending it all as time with him begins to draw to a close. The simple set, the lighting and some great sound effects and music all add to the simple beauty of this extraordinary, compelling theatre experience. Despite the fact that the show “contains some bad language and puppet nudity’’ I am sure that Fred’s story could go on warming hearts forever. |
Reviewed by: Michael Kelligan |
This review has been read 2228 times There are 82 other reviews of productions with this title in our database:
|
