Aficionados

Capital V, Extreme V, Vision!

Allyson McGrane’s show does ‘Vision’ accompanied with much conviction and moving lights. The idea is to find the theatrical big thing, that true artistic vision that appeals to everyone. Just like Justin Bieber.

Allyson certainly has at least as much appeal as Justin Bieber. I'd venture she has a fair bit more, but then I'm not a really big Beeb fan myself. Right off the bat, her character makes the valid point that elaborate sets only serve to distract from the performers and the two chairs and a clip board helped us focus more on what mattered: her. That said, the script on the clip board was a bit of a distraction even thought the delivery was confident and amusing.

Still, the point about theatre actors being better than film actors was on the mark. That and the fact that they make better lattes. That’s why she only works with real artists, not mere aficionados. But remember - it’s all about the Vision.

So we were pitched a brilliant, popular idea for a show about the HST. I'd have bought it but apparently the big producers wouldn't. So back to the drawing board... How do you mount a show and cover your costs in a world of ever-diminishing audiences and theatre spaces? How about merchandise sales? Potholders? (The woman seated next to me was ready to buy one - it shouldn’t be discarded as an idea). The idea that people are basically ‘time poor’ seemed to be a reasonable explanation for falling attendance at theatre events. Shorter working hours and longer vacations would cure that but then the corporate sponsors wouldn’t like it.

“So we’ll just keep having empty theatres, named after corporations.” Word.

A number of other alternatives were pursued and rejected: Community collaborations; mounting prequels and sequels of surefire stories e.g. “What happened to Hamlet when he was really little, before he got all moody and Danish”.

There’s a lot of really good material in this script that is apparently not the show that was advertised. Evidently, the running time is way off in the Fringe guide, too. It’s a skid mark over 30 minutes, so plan your show-hopping accordingly.

By Lisa Barrett