Camden Fringe Review: Do Look Back In Anger/Eddie Brimson: Kids... I Couldn't Eat A Whole One

By ClaireG Last edited 175 months ago
Camden Fringe Review: Do Look Back In Anger/Eddie Brimson: Kids... I Couldn't Eat A Whole One

kids.jpg Have you ever wondered what happens in the margins of literature's most famous works? In 'Do Look Back in Anger'; Not Stalking Productions play out the un-read scenarios and present some of literatures well known characters in a different light, using a mixed bag of interpretations and explanations for their familiar on the page behaviour. Opening with a torturous soliloquy from a heavily pregnant Lady Catherine Earnshaw we are asked to feel empathy for the usually haughty character as she offers explanation for her self-imposed solitary confinement in the days leading up to the birth of her child. It's an unexpected glimpse in to the psyche of a woman spurned by the man that she loves, and stuck in a relationship with a man she can't stand.

Most elements of the play leave the characters within their context and are perhaps the bits you'd get to read about in the 'directors cut'; the exception being Hamlet and Ophelia who are brought right up to the modern day with a beer swilling, football loving Hamlet bemoaning his portrayal in public as a bit of a fairy. There are some clever references to key characters and moments in the play including the famous pose of Hamlet with a skull using instead a football as he praises Manchester United.

Next up for this was the hilarious Eddy Brimson with his hour long 'Kids... I Couldn't Eat a Whole One'. As a married man of 14 years he entertainingly talks through the factors involved in his and his wife's decision not to have children, something he points out makes them subject of much confusion and misunderstanding. He sets the scene for the performance brilliantly with a suggestion for how a TV commercial would encourage you to have kids.

Brimson had the packed out audience laughing throughout the entire show having mastered the often elusive art of observational comedy perfectly. He rarely strayed off topic, but when he did the result was always returned to an insight in to being a parent or child. From establishing in the beginning he had a mixed audience of parents and non-parents he delivered a performance which didn't rely on child-bashing; that would have been much to obvious to be successful. Instead he delivered a cleverly written routine which managed to be both sympathetic to parents and liberating to those who are not.

The Camden Fringe runs until 30th August. For more information, go to the Camden Fringe website.

Last Updated 04 August 2009