Written
and Directed by Alister Emerson
Duck Bunny Theatre
The Street Theatre, 11 –
13 October 2013
Review by Len Power
Billed as ‘a Monty Python-esque comedy’ and a re-imagining
of John Steinbeck’s, ‘The Pearl’, Alister Emerson’s, ‘The Fridge’ seems to have
an identity crisis. A simple moral story
of greed and its nightmare outcome is swamped with zany characters, wacky
situations and a monsoon of dialogue. It’s
hard to see what the author’s point of view really is.
Doug Small has lost his job, his wife’s pregnant, the rent
is due and everything looks bleak until he is given a second hand fridge that
produces golden eggs. Seduced by his
sudden wealth, Doug finds out that having money isn’t everything.
Apart from the main characters of Doug and his wife, Florin,
played by Andrew Eddey and Linley Jenkins, the other six actors play multiple
characters. There is no-one to identify
with here. Doug is stupid, his wife is
colourless and the other characters are all obstructive, greedy, unpleasant and
cliched. Performances by the cast were
uneven and the naturalistic delivery lacked projection. Child actor, Daniel Minns, does, however,
stand out from the rest of the cast in his portrayal of the very worldly adult,
Carson Forbes.
The set designed by Chris Brain, utilizing multitudes of
cardboard boxes, seemed a bright idea at the start but caused some very clunky
scene changes.
There were far too many directorial indulgences and the
script needs serious editing but there were glimmers here and there of clever
writing and inventive directing by Alister Emerson. “The Fridge” needs more work on it yet.
Originally published in Canberra City News digital edition 12 October 2013
