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Virgins Matt Byrne Media Maxims Wine Bar, Feb 18 - March 14 Matt Byrne launched his multi character comedy show to an appreciative full house in his Fringe home of Maxim's Wine Bar. 'Virgins', written, directed, produced by and starring Byrne, follows the lines of his previous productions 'Barrackers', and John Godber's 'Bouncers' and 'Shakers', in that it four actors play a multitude of characters within a defined context. In this case, it was aboard Incontinental Flight 04169 on its maiden voyage from Australia to London. Cathie Oldfield, Paul Mayes and Chantel Dimasi join Byrne as they send up the new entrepreneur cut price airlines. In 'Virgins' Incontinental is owned by Dickie Laker (an amalgam of Richard 'Dickie' Branson and Freddie Laker played by Byrne) who stops by to welcome passengers before parachuting off to another adventure. Byrne injects some sharp wit and astute political observation into the script, along with the usual nudge nudge wink wink and outright sexual romps. Characters taken on by the players include a women's basketball team and a men's footy team (who graphically join the mile high club in the aircraft loos). the bored wealthy wife (who bonks steward Carbone in the non-smoking section), revolting children, bored businessman and of course the flight crew (you do have a licence, don't you Captain Jack?). The four take on these characters with gusto, and while a few scenes could have gone missing without affecting the story at all, for the most part they covered the passenger/crew permutations with sharp observation. One couldn't accuse any of the cast of being singers, but fortunately that's at a minimum; most of the music is familiar recordings which does, incidentally, make up one of the better soundtracks heard in some time at a theatre show. Opening jitters meant missed cues and lost lines, but that will bed in. What's needed is for the pace to be upped a little, especially as the show runs for two-plus hours; it should be judiciously cut by at least half an hour to keep it racy. What's important with this show is that the cast really seemed to be enjoying themselves, the audience got the jokes, laughed a lot and applauded wildly. And it's soo nice to have a decent glass of red with your show.  |
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