Showing @ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh until Sat 10 Mar – run ended
Chow Mein
Hex
Do we define our relationships by the things we buy? It’s not a new question, as we all indulge ourselves in the marvels of the “material world” – but what does it say about us? Directors Steve Small (Chow Mein) and Tim Primrose (Hex) return with Strange Town to stage their superbly comic plays which address the issue in an intensifying consumer society.
Both pieces closely detail the idiosyncrasies of young love. In Chow Mein, an evening is spent with Susan and Terry (Amy Drummond and Steven McMahon) as, woe to behold, an unwanted chow mein is delivered with the rest of their Chinese takeaway. How will they cope with such an abrupt change to their ritualistic lifestyles? Over in Hex, typically middle-class couple Gwen and Toby (Drummond and Ben Clifford) invite mystic healers Siobhan and Six (Felicity Allen and Colleen Garrett) round to solve a problem with their sofa.
Staying true to the energy found in their Fringe performances, both plays display a wry and sharply observed humour which runs throughout the middle-class. As Susan and Terry debate whether their lives are ‘normal’ (throwing egg noodles at each other across the dinner table must surely be unusual, Terry wonders), Toby and Gwen argue over the ideas of wacky remedies which we buy into more and more nowadays. Drummond gives a hilariously spirited performance as both Susan and Gwen, characters which share similar traits but are made unique by Drummond’s expert comic timing and flair. The other standout performance comes from Colleen Garrett whose creepy yet somewhat affectionate Six wins the audience over with a simple glance. It’s a testament to the flow of Tim Primrose and Sam Siggs’s scripts which glide along with such ease they almost feel verbatim.
Though this playful element to both shows can slightly water down their approach to modern life (clearly, they would flourish in a Fringe environment) they retain a masterful balance of social commentary and narration. This is orchestrated with true skill in Chow Mein as Drummond and McMahon step out of character to directly address the audience about their characters’ thoughts and feelings, while in Hex, Toby acts as the voice of reason and our sympathies largely lie with him. (It must be a nightmare to have a partner who truly believes in bullshit mind-healing-power-regeneration-spirit-body-method-things). These plays show us social critique doesn’t have to be heavy-handed and fiercely political; our attitudes can be predictable, wandering and volatile all at once, and how we reflect on them can offer both perspective and frustration.
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