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Fuschia
Well, last night Daniel and I ventured out to see “Fuschia” by Matthew Westwood at the White Bear Theatre in Kennington. And a most diverting evening it proved to be – not least because the venue itself proved to be deeply surreal and Daniel was asked by some pissed-up old soak what my dowry was.
Yeah. It does seem that Daniel’s air of genteel amiability does tend to act as a magnet for nutters.
Anyway, the reason we went was because Jacqueline “Servalan” Pearce was in it, and since she’s just irrepressibly marvellous we felt we must. Plus it turned out that Gary Amers who played the rather fit boyfriend in Beautiful People was in it so I was doubly sold.
Now, I’ll be honest. There were about twenty minutes at the end where it went very mystical and spiritual, and since these are sadly not qualities I possess, I hadn’t the foggiest clue what people were talking about. But it was all terribly engaging stuff and had a very uplifting, if slightly melancholic, end.
I like my melancholia, I do. It suits my disposition.
And it was a great cast too. When Moya Brady, who played Bridget in Who’s Love and Monsters swanned on as… er… Bridget, I instantly thought “oh fantastic”, which indeed she then proved to be. Mark Dymond, Connie Hyde, James Carlton and Jamie Maclachlan then rounded off a cast of “oh, hang on, I know you”s who rather splendidly brought to life a series of neatly wrought characters.
It was Pearce and Amers who stole the show, though. You expect it from Jacqui I think, and her character is kind of exactly how I expect her to be in real life: playful, gently barking, spiritual and dazzlingly insightful. The way she played Amanda was so utterly charming, and I loved the moments when she lead other characters towards the brink of realisation whilst apparently agreeing with every wrong opinion they had. Plus there was an exquisite pleasure in seeing Chessene saying lines like “we fucked like flintstones” which had a power all its own.
Amers, however, was a shock. Talk about giving it your all. Admittedly his character’s final transformation could have been achieved with a big slap and a stern talking to, but the play probably would have been a bit too short then. It was a really quite uncomfortable performance: fantastic, mind, but as hard to watch as it was mesmerising.
And believe me, it takes a lot for me to find a fit man with his top off hard to watch, you mark my words.
So yes, all really very impressive. It runs until 22nd February and I think it’s definitely worth a look. Very funny and very harrowing by turns, which is no bad thing to be. A tour de force of writing, direction and performance. And one I’m still wrapping my brain round now.
Posted on February 4, 2009 | Filed Under My So-Called Life
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Response left by Pandemonia on February 9th, 2009
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“Genteel Amiability? Gosh! I’m not sure if I’m pleased with that description. It’s contextually nice but genteel is a bit wishy washy. And amiable! I feel like I should be shuffling around in slippers. I may be amiable but there’s got to be a term supporting my pleasant nature without making me sound like wallpaper.
How about “Chivalrously Affable”? That has more of a ring to it.
And enables me to say “Fuck like Flintstones?” without shocking the ladies too much.