Reviews

Hard Sell is contextualised as form of auctioning of circus talent, where the performers are determined to outshine their competitors in the hope of being selected by talent scouts. The idea of creating a showcase which focuses on the pressure and importance of the graduating class performances is ingenious. This provides a great structure for the individual artists to own the stage and test their talents to the fullest.

It begins in traditional style: in the dead of night, two men – brothers - carry an eviscerated corpse wrapped in black plastic.  Their mother has ordered them to dump it in a mine shaft.  They don’t; they bury it in a shallow hole at Broken River.  We know the body will be found and somebody, besides this pair, will be in big trouble… 

Death is an inevitable part of life, and so why not create a hilarious funny hour around this morbid subject. Direct from Los Angeles Fringe festival, Amnita Dhaliwal and  Gemma Soldati  are here to perform The Living Room - A Comedy of Grief. The show is set around a bunch rules that remind us that we can laugh at our own mortality and mourn the passing of others.

It’s unusual to find a Fringe show that is a full-length (well, 90 minutes) and well-made play with an appealing and talented cast of five and directed by a fully professional and accomplished director.  From the title, you’d guess this was something else.  I did.  What a pleasant surprise.  The spirit of Alan Ayckbourn hovers over Quite Drunk, Very Jesus-y – and that is no bad thing.  An ensemble of ‘ordinary’ people who are or were practicing Christians and who think they know each other turn out not to.