★★★

“The performances by Paris and Tina Rizzo remain as strong throughout”

No one who is actually fine says ‘I’m fine’. A line we hear often in life, and more than once in Bettina Paris’ play “Sisyphean Quick Fix”. So, when London-based struggling actor, Krista, asks her sister how their father is – and she responds with a shoulder-shrugging ‘he’s fine’ – we know that’s not true. The sister, Pip (Tina Rizzo), still lives in Malta where they grew up. Krista left to pursue her dream, which is on the cusp of being attained although she is currently a penniless, stressed barmaid. The siblings have comparisons and contrasts. Pip is a career woman, dresses smartly and has the luxury of slowly chewing over a marriage proposal. Krista meanwhile is unlucky in love and life but unbound by expectations. What they do share, however, is a strong childhood bond. And an alcoholic father. The feelings of responsibility are equal, but what is contentious is each other’s share of the burden (especially as Krista lives far away). The play steers through the minefield of emotions as their father’s illness deteriorates.

Paris herself plays Krista and, apparently, the subject is based on real life experience. She has a natural onstage presence that puts us at ease. The opening scenes are light-hearted and full of expressive and witty dialogue that firmly establishes the sisters’ strong bond and affectionate rivalry. Nicky Allpress’ slick and intuitive direction creates two separate worlds that eventually converge into one. Initially, Oliver McNally’s lighting separates these worlds, bathing Pip’s Malta in a rusty glow while Krista’s London has the cold, hazy hues of the ‘Big Smoke’. A middle ground is found when Krista travels back to Malta.

Unfortunately, it is in the middle ground where the writing starts to get too comfortable. And the stakes don’t feel quite as high as they should. The performances by Paris and Tina Rizzo remain as strong throughout, but the offstage characters come to us second-hand without really coming to life. They wonderfully show us the effects their father has on their lives, yet the complexities of the causes remain underexplored, weakening the heart of the matter. The focus is still very much on Pip and Krista. And a wonderful, honest portrayal of their relationship it is. But although we get a sense of the sacrifices they make, we don’t feel the force of the circumstances that drive their decisions.

Ubiquitous questions surface: ‘could we have done more?’ or ‘we’re going to be okay?’ – the latter weighed down by its oversized question mark. Admittedly there are no definitive answers but in this play the questions seem a touch unearned. The title alludes to the Greek myth of Sisyphus, who was condemned to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down every time it neared the top – repeating the action for eternity. In contemporary culture, tasks that are considered laborious or futile are described as Sisyphean. “Sisyphean Quick Fix”, however, is quite the opposite. Played out in short, fractured scenes there is an effortlessness to the staging that deals with an important, pertinent and universal topic. Which paradoxically also creates the problem – we don’t fully grasp the real struggle. The finely crafted writing needs just a few more sharp edges for it to cut through beyond the skin.

DRACULA, A COMEDY OF TERRORS

Menier Chocolate Factory

★★★★

“the air is thick with mischief and the sense of fun that this insanely talented troupe bring to the stage is enough to win us over”

‘Transsexual Transylvaniaaa-a-a!’ comes to mind the moment James Daly’s lace-and-leather-clad, midriff-baring Dracula makes his flamboyant entrance onto the stage. But it’s a riff that’s half a century old. So the writers, Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen, need something more saucy to dollop onto the old frank-n-furter. It’s safe to say, thankfully, that they’ve dished up the magic ingredients – hundreds and thousands of them in fact, sacrilegiously scattered all over Bram Stoker’s gothic masterpiece. It’s the theatrical equivalent of popping candy, that fizzles in your mouth and leaves you giggling with effervescent joy. Chuck in some camp, gender-swapping, costume-changing, character-bending humour; a touch of gore, and rapid-fire one-liners and you eventually arrive at the imperfect feast that is “Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors”. Faithful(ish) to Bram Stoker’s original, it still takes succulent chunks of the story’s flesh and regurgitates it dripping with frivolity. As the writers themselves have said of the novel: ‘anything that takes itself that seriously is a prime target for satire’.

As the houselights fade, we are plunged into a cacophony of darkness and noise, rather like entering a ghost train at a fairground. Tijana Bjelajac’s shadowy set reflects this kind of clubland-meets-circus atmosphere, while Tristan Raine’s costumes blend Victoriana with novelty, giving hints of steampunk. Clever use of props and puppets add to the magic, while the many costume changes are acrobatic feats – one in particular drawing its own round of applause. But the main attraction is the juggling act in which the cast of five play a whole horde of madcap characters.

Little time is spent in Transylvania itself. Jonathan Harker (a wonderfully goofy and uptight Charlie Stemp) rocks up at Dracula’s castle to clinch a lucrative property deal with the count. James Daly’s Dracula is the archetypal image of the narcissistic Rock Star – money and sex on tap but still wanting more. The sexual tension between him and Harker is palpable, until Dracula diverts his bloodthirsty attentions onto Harker’s fiancé, Lucy. By now we are back in Whitby, not exactly the kind of seaside town you have in mind for a queer pilgrimage. Dracula meets his match with the array of kooky individuals he comes up against. Safeena Ladha is headstrong and assertive as Lucy. Her rather downtrodden sister, Mina, is played by Sebastien Torkia, complete with ginger wig and ruffled ballgowns. Dianne Pilkington is their father, Dr. Westfield, who has turned their house into a live-in retreat for society’s oddballs (all played with a vaudevillian hilarity by them all).

You know the story, and how it ends. It’s the treatment that stands out. Co-writer Greenberg also directs, his hand visibly cracking the whip to keep the pace as frenetic as the lunacy. After the initial set-up, however, the humour is relatively conventional. More panto than subversive. The melodrama is kicked to the rafters even if some of the jokes don’t aim quite so high. But the air is thick with mischief and the sense of fun that this insanely talented troupe bring to the stage is enough to win us over. It is all very silly and chaotic, but delivered with precision and comic timing you could die for. But it doesn’t quite draw blood. It is more like a love-bite than a sharp set of fangs puncturing our skin. Then again – that’s probably a good thing. Definitely worth staking out.

SISYPHEAN QUICK FIX

Riverside Studios

★★★

“The performances by Paris and Tina Rizzo remain as strong throughout”

SISYPHEAN QUICK FIX

Riverside Studios

Reviewed on 19th March 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Marusia Makhmutova

Previously reviewed at this venue:

SISYPHEAN QUICK FIX

SISYPHEAN QUICK FIX

SISYPHEAN QUICK FIX

DRACULA, A COMEDY OF TERRORS

Menier Chocolate Factory

★★★★

“the air is thick with mischief and the sense of fun that this insanely talented troupe bring to the stage is enough to win us over”