The Liverpool Fringe Festival is back for its third year. Offering an eclectic mix of theatre, comedy, dance, music, circus and more, The Liverpool Fringe takes place across a range of venues throughout Liverpool from 1st – 16th June 2019. Showcasing the work of local theatre companies and dancers, and open to all performers, whether they are a seasoned professional with a one-man show or an exciting new act, all genres are welcome to this open-access arena which means the organisers don’t censor the acts which perform thus allowing the actors and writers to push the boundaries hence providing the audiences with a unique variety of shows. This affords artists an opportunity which no other festival offers.
As a preview to The Fringe Festival, the second Liverpool Fringe 24 Hour Play Festival kicked off at the Community Centre in Lark Lane, a trendy district of Liverpool, popular with students and foodies, with a mission. On the 12th April at 10pm, twenty-four actors, six directors and six writers met in a room with one task; to create six theatre companies with one writer, one director and four actors. The writers had until 7am the next morning to write their 10 - 15 minute scripts, while the actors and directors went home to sleep. At 8am the actors and directors returned to start rehearsing their respective pieces, ready to be performed at 7.30pm that same evening. Between them they were commissioned to write, rehearse and dissect the lines of six plays of ten to fifteen minutes' duration, in just under twenty four hours and to perform them for an audience on the evening of the 13th April. The question hanging in the air was did they do it or did they fail miserably?
Unfortunately, the acoustics in the Community Centre did not lend itself well for an event such as this as I had difficulty hearing many of the lines spoken and as the pieces were all comedic, I missed a lot of the one-liners and quips. Additionally, the seating arrangements were not perfect as it was difficult to see the actors at times, particularly when they were seated. The sets were mostly rather simple and devoid of the usual stage accoutrements so one’s imagination needed to be in top gear. Nevertheless, overall the productions were amusing and inventive, if not somewhat baffling in parts at times. Although six playlets were promised, five pieces were performed by local theatre enterprises, Candle Light Productions Theatre Company, Goats Milk Theatre Company, Catfish Theatre Company, Rocket Rams Theatre Company and Unicorns R Us Theatre Company. The actors are to be commended as they were enthusiastic and delivered their lines well considering they had only a short time to learn them and rehearse before their performances. Each piece had the audience laughing and encouraging them to perform to the best of their abilities. The titles for the pieces were also inventive; 'Murder On The Number 68 Bus' (Irene Stuart), 'The World In His Hands' (John Smith), 'Smoke And Mirrors' (Margorie H. Morgan), 'The Bridge' (Donna Golding) and 'They Wouldn’t Wear That At Aintree' (Andy Pilkington).
Each of the actors had brought a prop to be used in the play they were performing in and there was a “guess the prop” competition for the approximately one hundred-strong audience to participate in, as well as a raffle for the customary bottles of wine and as this event was a fundraiser for The Liverpool Fringe all funds raised went towards the upcoming Festival.
The Liverpool Fringe Festival advertises itself as “A great showcase of the best talent which Liverpool has to offer” and I think this 24 Hour Play Festival was a brilliant precursor to showcasing the exceptional talent, aptitude and flair for comedy Liverpool has in its blood.
Reviewer - Anne Prtichard
on - 13/4/19
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