Diamond Dick |
Published on Sunday, 14 August 2011 | |||||
It’s a staple concept to bring to the Fringe: a play about putting on a play, with the inner play usually turning out to be an entertaining disaster. But with Diamond Dick, the Paper Tape theatre company have given the idea a fresh twist, moving the action to a decadent 1920’s film set and – cleverly – doing the whole thing in black and white. The result didn’t quite entertain me throughout, but some clever stylistic tricks and a few well-conceived characters still led to a worthwhile hour. The outer play – set on the film set – is done more or less for laughs, with the laconic director at the back attempting to marshal her quarrelling, haughty, often-shambolic cast. The characters are predictable enough, though none the worse for that: there’s the glamorous diva, the put-upon wardrobe mistress, the drunk. I’d have liked to have seen a little more storyline worked in, to lend some focus to what’s sometimes a chaotic dialogue, but there were more than enough witty and catty interventions to keep the whole thing zipping joyously along. But the inner film, based on a collection of short stories by F Scott Fitzgerald, drags the mood down. At times I honestly wasn’t sure whether it was deliberately weak (they are clearly filming a B-movie, after all), or whether it was all just a bit languidly performed. I think it’s the former, but if so, it needs to be drawn in bolder strokes to keep the humour going between the studio segments. For all that, there are a couple of genuinely touching scenes in the movie we’re seeing made: look out for a monologue from the damaged Mr Vermont, which neatly and expressively captures the heartbreak of the generation returning from the First World War. In a clever twist, since this is 1920’s cinema, the whole thing’s presented in black and white – or to put it more prosaically, the actors have painted themselves grey. It’s a clever gimmick which is variously successful, but at its best, it’s very striking indeed. I was a little disappointed, though, with the set: there’s nothing that’s actually wrong for its period, but given the beautifully-executed Art Deco theme which runs throughout their posters, it felt like a missed opportunity to create something really sumptuous as a backdrop for the show. I love the idea behind Diamond Dick, and the studio scenes are often inspired. With a bit more tightness around the film itself, this could make the transition from an interesting short to the main feature. |
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FROM OUR ARCHIVES
These are archived reviews of shows from the Edinburgh Fringe 2011. We keep our archives online as a courtesy to those we've featured, and for readers who'd like to research previous years' reviews.