Review of "Stories About People I Used to Know"

Stories About People I Used to Know
Written and Performed by: Adrian Poynton
The Camden Head
22/08/2009- 23/08/2009
*A funny, light-hearted, and entertaining hour of stand-up comedy.

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Adrian Poynton is a very funny man. Well known on the comedy circuit and an award-winning writer, he brings his newest creation “Stories About People I Used to Know” to this year’s Camden Fringe Festival. The premise of the show is this: having lost touch with all of his former classmates, save the few that have contacted him through Facebook, Adrian is curious to know what has become of them. Armed with nothing but his six-year-old school picture and his imagination, Adrian sets out to discover the fate of his childhood friends. His tales take a sometimes-fanciful route, telling of the young boy obsessed with boats that has now sailed to a private island and become King. Likewise, the girl that Adrian married in a daisy chain ceremony on the schoolyard when he was nine has remarried, but still pines for that first, simpler wedding. His troublemaking, foul mouthed, free spirited friend has become a nun, and the girl who broke his six-year-old heart has been horribly and ironically struck down. In the end, he invites his adult friends to re-invent his own future and imagine him as the others in that class picture might. The beauty of inventing the truth instead of taking the trouble to find it out, Poynton argues, is that in his mind people can be whatever he wants and needs them to be. Likewise, if no one knows what has become of him, his life can seem far more interesting and meaningful than it is.
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This is new material for Poynton, and he has structured it well. Some areas need a bit more work; for example, moments when he reads aloud to the audience from emails and pretend diary entries run the risk of dragging on. Overall, though, this is a cleverly thought out and skillfully executed piece of comedy. Adrian Poynton has excellent comic delivery and is adept at engaging his audience in his stories and wry observations. He has perfected the art of gentle self-deprecation, bringing himself to his audience’s level and rendering him extremely likable and charming.
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Contrary to what the title suggests, this is not a show entirely based around Adrian’s childhood stories. Half of the show looks to his past, while the other half finds the humor in his present. Commentary on his new marriage, his career, and his struggles with turning thirty strike a particularly amusing and familiar note. And certainly, the real beauty in Adrian’s creation is that it is so relatable. 4 Stars.
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Playing through August 23rd at the Camden Head in Camden as a part of the Camden Fringe Festival. Review written by Megan Hunter for Fringe Review.

Review of "Is This My Art?"

Is This My Art?

Written & Performed by: Zoe Lavelle

Etcetera Theatre
16/08/2009- 17/08/2009

*A delightful look at the role of personal historical accuracy in artistic expression.

Zoe is not the girl she used to be. Zoë is not the girl she used to be. Zoey is not the girl she used to be. She is also not who she appears to be; or is she? In Zoe Lavelle’s one-woman show, ‘Is This My Art’, themes of manipulation and exaggeration through art are explored with humor, wit, and intelligence. Through her fictional character, Zoe Dickens, Ms. Lavelle shares real snapshots of her childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. ‘You have to go back in order to go forward’, she claims, and in an attempt to discover her identity she revisits some of the more poignant moments of her life in a quest for self-realization. Instead of truth, however, she finds that she has unwittingly altered her memory of events. Where the reality has been too painful, she has created a more favorable one in its place. A part of ‘Is This My Art’ is biographical, Zoe promises, but neither she nor her audience will come to know which part that is.


Zoe Lavelle is endearing, a massively talented young actor with superb comic delivery and physicality. She has written a convincing script and she delivers it with conviction. This subject matter could have easily become dark and over-emotive. Thankfully, its creator has instead infused her work with a cheery playfulness. Set against a nearly empty stage, Lavelle cleverly integrates real photographs from her life, original video clips, and an easel in order to tell her story and to assist her audience in visualization. Lighting and sound are also appropriate for the piece, and the staging feels fresh and natural. The only real disappointment, then, is the run-time. At just over thirty minutes, ‘Is This My Art’ comes to its brief end just as its main character is at her most engaging. If the character of Zoe has set out to find answers, the playwright has stopped her and her audience from discovering them. Perhaps this is the point; perhaps no one ever really knows himself or herself fully. However, lengthening this piece a bit could only serve to make its impact more memorable. As it currently is, it is delightful and highly recommended. 4 Stars.


Playing through August 17th at the Etcetera Theatre in Camden as a part of the Camden Fringe Festival. Review written by Megan Hunter for Fringe Review: http://www.fringereview.co.uk

Review of "Lady in Bed"

Lady in Bed

Written & Performed by: Alison Goldie

Directed by: Laura Lloyd

Etcetera Theatre

12/082009- 15/08/2009

*An uncompromisingly honest, racy, and utterly exuberant piece of theatre.

What would you say to your teenage self, on the brink of discovering your sexuality, if you had the chance? In The Weird Sisters’ production of ‘Lady in Bed’, Alison Goldie takes this chance. Her advice: ‘Above all else, make it your mission in life to know yourself, value yourself, and love yourself’. ‘Lady in Bed’ promises to be very funny, and it is, but it is also touching, poignant, and honest. At the age of 48, Alison Goldie is feeling retrospective (‘When you get older, there’s always what-might-have-beens’), and in an attempt to discover exactly why she has turned out as she has, she takes a trip to the bedroom of her fourteen-year-old self. She advises her younger personality to be kinder to her mother, truer to her desires, and accepting of what lies ahead. She also dispels the notion that she will ever become ‘a famous actress’. She will not, she confesses; but she will meet some wonderful and interesting people. Over the course of an hour, she introduces these people through stories and impersonations, and they are undeniably interesting. There is a blonde American surfer, a poverty-stricken Greek artist, a pot-smoking comedian, a Turkish sailor, a posh older gentleman whom she admits is more of a ‘father-figure’ than anything else, and a long line of Scousers. However, none of these characters are more interesting than the storyteller, and her observations are at once witty and familiar.

It is impossible not to like Alison Goldie. She has written her script with warmth and honesty and delivers it with startling intimacy. This is ‘adult material’, to be sure, but it is never uncomfortable. Ms. Goldie has a long history in the stand-up comedy world, having toured with Eddie Izzard and Jack Dee, and she is also a terrific actor. As a one-woman performance, her spot-on portrayals of everyone from her former lovers to a cheery array of animals help to keep things interesting and fresh. Direction and staging by Laura Lloyd is also exceptional. The stage is completely bare aside from a single chair, but the physicality combined with colourful descriptions and an appropriate use of lighting creates the sensation of being transported to each location. Musical interludes ranging from David Bowie and Charlie Parker to Estelle add to the whimsical feel.

‘Lady in Bed’ is not groundbreaking theatre, but then it isn’t meant to be. It is frank and entertaining without taking itself too seriously. This is the narrative of one woman’s life of relationships and sex, but there is obviously a wider, universal appeal in these experiences. Indeed, it is in the relatability of both Alison Goldie and her stories where the piece truly succeeds. 4 Stars.

Playing through August 15th at the Etcetera Theatre in Camden as a part of the Camden Fringe Festival. Review written by Megan Hunter for Fringe Review: http://www.fringereview.co.uk.