THEATRE REVIEW Part of GM Fringe Festival ALMOST FAMOUS The King's Arms Pub Theatre, Salford.

Without a programme I am once again at a loss. 

The stage is an open set and we enter to see a chaise-longue, theatre posters and an aging actress sitting by a small table doing her make-up. This is a 50 minute monologue from said aging actress. First she takes us through her life story and tells us how she ended up living in not exactly squalor, but certainly not what she was used to (dahlink!), and she has to be quick because her agent is picking her up in an hour to take her to audition at The Wolverhampton Grand! Her tones are forced RP and she is obviously acting, and we wonder why. She then however, "comes clean" and she tells us her "true" life story", which of course is much more humble, seedy, and believable. Yet, she is still "acting" and I now do not understand why. She is obviously bitter and resentful of her industry. She comes, she tells us, originally from Australia, but there is no trace of Australian in her speech at all, but she is now a lush, and obviously has a higher opinion of her talents than the agents / casting directors etc. She is over the hill, and the OBE and Damehood has passed her by! In the second half the RP does not go altogether but instead, it seems that the actresses natural accent is actually quite "posh" and therefore perhaps doesn't realise that she is now playing the role of a unsuccessfully jobbing down-and-out Australian actress! She spends a lot of time talking to herself in the mirror, to the bottle , and to the air; but she also spends a lot of time breaking the fourth wall and talking directly to us to. This I found very odd indeed.

She is chatty, and her monologue is well presented and dynamically interesting. Her presentation is well thought through, although there is no jeopardy and the narrative offers no surprises, and somehow, we never lose the feeling that she is still acting. As she tells us, we all play parts and reinvent ourselves according to the situations and circumstances - and this actress reminded me in ways of Norma Desmond ('Sunset Boulevard').  "We all want to go back to the roles we never played - even if we shouldn't."

Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu

on - 19.7.25