A Potent Cocktail, Blending Chaucer and Noel Coward
Last year, Another Midas brought a touch of glamour to the Fringe with Dirty Little Secrets, a visually stimulating, operatic and erotic dance. This sensational physical theatre company is back with a mesmerising modern interpretation of Chaucer's The Nun's Priest's Tale, a beast fable in which Chanticleer, a vain, pompous, pink-rouged rooster is seduced by Dawn, a sly young fox.Set in the 1950s, Chanticleer's buxom hen-wife Pertelot, in shocking pink wig and lace housecoat, is the domestic goddess baking sponge cakes to entice her Cock to stay home. Away from this cosy marital bliss, his wild fantasies take hold and he pursues the ravishing raven-haired vixen, a vision in black stockings, corset and killer heels. "Dreams come true if you believe them," he sings, as they tango in a lustful embrace. While he binges on sexual pleasure, the deserted Pertelot binges on cake. With a hint towards the alleged Beckham/Loos encounter, the 'kiss and tell' tabloid gossip begins to destroy the romantic dream.
This is a potent cocktail, blending Chaucer and Noel Coward, song and dance with a fabulous Broadway musical-style soundtrack by composer Jim Fowler. Harper Ray, Lucinda Ryan and Helen McManamon perform with their inimitable style: they prance and preen with precise animalistic characterisation. While outrageously, grotesquely camp on one level, this is above all an intelligent re-working of Chaucer's morality tale dramatised with passion, humour and wit.
When and Where
C Venue (Venue No 34), Adam House, Chambers Street. Runs to 30th August at 2pm.Vivien Devlin, August 2004
Return to Index of 2004 Fringe Reviews.
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