6pm—8pm FESTIVAL .
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COMEDY PREVIEW Sub-Post Office Of Death
tvtad cows, hostages and drivmg licence application forms. I’m not making this up — but the team behind Sub-Post Office Of Death are, Kind Of. Performer Stella Duffy explains: ’The Whose Line Is It Anyway? thing is extremely funny in Itself, but we wanted to see where else you can take it. We've done improwsed plays and now we're doing this half—scripted, half-improvised piece'
tella and pals perform from 40 minutes of script but there are five improVised sec tions, which is where you, dear audience, come in. It's a matter of life and death, and you even get to choose whirh of the characters shuffles along to the bone orc hard. ’v‘Ve've been together as a coriipany for nine years,’ says Stella. 'lt makes you that IIIII( h braver \Nllll the impro when you really trust people. And did I say that it's bloody tunny7' Oh, go on then iRorfger Evans) n Sub-Post Office Of Death (Fringe) Spontaneous Combustion, Assembly Rooms rVenr/e 3) 226 2428, 9 -30 Aug, 6pm, [7 SO/[E‘ 50 ([6 50/[7 50)
THEATRE PREviEW Daylight Robbery
Ethnltur‘gh's Cat A Theatre Company has earned a reputation over the last few years for inventive theatrical
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THEATRE PREVlEW
Choc; away: Brief & Big Time Perfect
Brief & Big Time Perfect/T he Arnold Crombeck Story
Sinister love affairs feature in two Fringe shows from University College Scarborough's Desirable Residence Theatre. Although quite disparate, the shows - performed on alternating nights - are united by strange obsessions. Brief & Big Time Perfect, written by theatre studies lecturer and company manager Helen lball. is a reworking of the classic film Brief Encounter, recasting Trevor Howard's character as a disillusioned modern woman.
’She longs to be back in the 405 because she can’t deal with relationships today,’ explains lball. 'Brief Encounter seemed so distanced from , relationships now, but still very seductive. She's not a lesbian, but she wants the powerful role, which she sees as being male.’
Iball, who is researching a PhD on appetites and obsessions, has introduced one of her own — chocolate. As ’Trevor’ descends into madness, her dependency on the ultimate comfort food grows. ’She slowly gets into the hard stuff,’ says lball. 'By the end, she's snorting cocoa powder.’
In Brief Encounter, the drug of choice was tobacco. Cigarettes also play their part in The Arnold Crombeck Story, adapted by the cast from a short story by Patrick McGrath. A celebrated journalist remembers her formative assignment - interviewing a notorious yet oddly personable murderer.
’The journalist is still seduced by that moment in her career,’ says lball. ’lt’s the most important thing that's ever happened to her, and she becomes quite emotional about it. It is a kind of love affair.’ (Andrew Burnet)
I Brief 8! Big Time Perfect/The Arnold Crombeck Story (Fringe) Desirable Residence Theatre, Southside Courtyard (Venue 82) 667 2212, 8—23 Aug
(alternating nights) 6pm, [5 (£3.50).
relationships With her (ustomers, and the irony of someone at the centre of
the Community, yet an outsider,’
1 comments George. As Maddie puts it, : 'l'm British and I'm Asian. Nobody's
; complimented me on how British my
; skin looks' (Steve Cramer) i I Daylight Robbery (Fringe) Cat A
Theatre Company Gilded Balloon
2 (Venue 38) 226 2 75 r, Aug 8-30,
6 30pm, [6 (£5)
COMEDY PREVIEW
The Three Canadians In Ben Hur - The Epic
Imagination goes a long way on a limited budget. In a bid to outdo Fringe veterans the Reduced Shakepeare Company, the Three Canadians combine DIY puppet- making and audience partiCipation, plus a solid improv pedigree, to create a stream-lined, cast-of-thousands-free version of Ben Hur.
What’s more, accuracy doesn't fall by the waySide, according to Derek Flores, who claims, 'We do every scene in the movie as giiickly and accurately as possible. ObVIOUSly it’s a bit manic but it's a pretty faithful version'
Essentially, a simple tale of the good vs eVil variety, the action sees the archetypal hero battling against the odds, as the bad guys attempt to take his family and rubbish his reputation,
’We're trying to do'a story and show that theatre doesn't have to be stale and long, that it can be energetic and fun,’ claims Flores. Despite his reassurances, it’s probably not one for purists. (Claire Prentice)
l The Three Canadians In Ben Hur -- The Epic (Fringe) Gilded Balloon (Venue 38) 226 2757, 8—30 Aug, 7. 75pm, [7
ASYLUM
Theatre Company
William Shakespeare
12.30pm'to 2.55pm Preview Aug. 10
Aug. "-30 (not Suns)
Tickets £6.50 (£4.50)
Jim Cartwright
Our ‘96 Fringe Hit “the ThreeWeeks * i * t The Scotsman
7.35pm to 8.50pm Preview Aug 10 Aug. 11-30 (not Suns)
' Tickets £5. 50 (£4. 50)
HOWABII BRENTMI
GHBISTIE
Midnight to 1.00 am Aug. 10 [Preview]. 12. 14. 16.19. 21. 23, 20, 20, 30 Tickets £4.50 [£3.50]
Venue 81
The Garage Theatre Grindlay Street Court Booking Tel 228 221 5
(£6).
Hur-raising: The Three Canadians — Eric, Derek and . . . . er . . . North
8-14 Aug I997 THE UST 55
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