Day 3 -- 1 p.m. Time Slot

Show: The Narrator
Company: The Lounge Peanut
Venue: The Jungle Theater
Die Roll: 10

One of the things that I love about the Fringe Festival is how before each show you can meet all sorts of people. Now, being that I am who I am, I tend to meet two types of people before the shows: Other theatre people, and people who read my blog and would like to tell me what they think of it. Luckily on this particular visit to the Jungle, I met up with Phillip Low of Maximum Verbosity and Charlie Bethel who is doing his own Gilgamesh for this year's Fringe. Both are interested in ancient myth and telling those myths through theatre. I love talking about that stuff! It was a nice half hour spent priot to the show.

So, anyway, we eventually got into the theatre and got our programs. You know, you're got to like a company that thanks "The Sea" in its special thanks section of the program. Even after seeing the show, I'm not sure how that immense body of water directly affected the show, but it doesn't really matter.

The program also lists three actors, one of which is also the director, but it is important to know that the third character/director is really the stagehand. This is a two person show. Period. The main character is a narrator of a Film Noir-style presentation. He plays the piano, without possessing the skill to do so, and interacts with an attractive young waitress.

As the story progresses the style of teh show shifts. It goes into a restoration-style play and then into a living room comedy. All the while the two characters interact and the main character fulfills his role of Narrator.

It is the interaction between the two actors that is this play's weakness. The script is well-written. The actors each do well. But there is NO chemistry between them. I don't believe that they are even talking to each other. They each rehearsed their lines well, but they didn't do it in the same city apparently. The timing that could've made this really funny wasn't there because they were talking past each other. At times the strength of the script shines through despite the performance, but a solid yet unmotivated performance doesn't quite elevate this to the best group of shows.

RATING: "d10 - Worth Going To"