Tag Archives: Kristin McCarthy Parker

HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

★★★★

Arcola Theatre

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HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

Arcola Theatre

★★★★

“Although lacking the traditional sleigh bells and Santa, it does have sufficient nostalgia, silliness and giggles to fill a panto-shaped hole”

In case you’re wondering, “Hold on to your butts” is a line from Samuel L Jackson as he is about to reboot the computer systems of Jurassic Park in the 1993 ground-breaking monster flick.

It’s a terrible title for a fun evening but, I suppose, theatre company Recent Cutbacks can’t stick “Jurassic Park” anywhere near the poster for legal reasons.

But the copyright holders need not fear for their intellectual property. It’s in safe hands. This madcap shot-for-shot re-creation of the mega-dinosaur smash is made by people who adore the movie. And love movie-making.

It’s 10 years since this slick whistlestop tribute opened in New York City, later wowing crowds at the Edinburgh Fringe and now setting up at the Arcola under the direction of Kristin McCarthy Parker. Although lacking the traditional sleigh bells and Santa, it does have sufficient nostalgia, silliness and giggles to fill a panto-shaped hole.

This production takes you back. Not just to Steven Spielberg’s genius film, but to your garage, or garden, or park. Where on a rainy Sunday, with nothing else to do and the wifi down, you and your mates stumble upon a cardboard box from Tesco which once held pineapples. The box becomes everything – castle, racing car, majestic pirate ship scything the seven seas…

Here, two performers and a sound artist perform a similar feat of ingenuity and imagination in this lo-fi, charming and very funny evocation of the original.

What’s that you say? A herd of serene brachiosaurus sweeping across the plains of Isla Nublar? Here you go. A mosquito trapped in a piece of amber? A barley sugar will suffice, no?

Performers Jack Baldwin and Laurence Pears tread the fine line between slavish adoration of the original and good-natured fanboy parody. On the sidelines, but equally a star, is foley artist Charlie Ives recreating T-Rex roars, rainstorms, computer beeps, creaking branches and everything else that helps make the fun funnier.

The humour is often of the Airplane! variety – aforementioned (pre-Pulp Fiction) Samuel L Jackson’s growing smoking habit an example – and much of the joy is in the anticipation, figuring out how two men and some props retrieved from a trash can are going to make a car fall through a tree, or create the tension of a raptor hunt. And there’s much humour to be mined in the script too – such as Jeff Goldblum’s wry “chaotician” delivering his memorable brow-knitted cod-philosophies studded with Pinteresque ‘umms’ and pauses. Or that perky and patronising strand of DNA explaining how cloning works.

It helps to know something about the film because the sheer challenge of miniaturisation does lend itself to some confusion, but the iconic scenes are all there as anchors – the ripples on the cup of water, T-Rex going to town on a toilet-bound Donald Gennaro, probing a big pile of dino-poop, sweaty Wayne Knight, girlie Laura Dern…

This is the perfect night for anyone who’s ever seen a stack of cone party hats and thought – three of them, artfully placed – there’s my triceratops!



HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

Arcola Theatre

Reviewed on 13th December 2024

by Giles Broadbent

Photography by Mark Senior

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

DISTANT MEMORIES OF THE NEAR FUTURE | ★★★ | November 2024
THE BAND BACK TOGETHER | ★★★★ | September 2024
MR PUNCH AT THE OPERA | ★★★ | August 2024
FABULOUS CREATURES | ★★★ | May 2024
THE BOOK OF GRACE | ★★★★★ | May 2024
LIFE WITH OSCAR | ★★★ | April 2024
WHEN YOU PASS OVER MY TOMB | ★★★★★ | February 2024
SPUTNIK SWEETHEART | ★★★ | October 2023
GENTLEMEN | ★★★★ | October 2023
THE BRIEF LIFE & MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF BORIS III, KING OF BULGARIA | ★★★★★ | September 2023
THE WETSUITMAN | ★★★ | August 2023
UNION | ★★★ | July 2023

HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

 

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Monsoon Season

★★★★

Underbelly Cowgate

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Monsoon Season

Monsoon Season

Underbelly Cowgate

Reviewed – 3rd August 2019

★★★★

 

“Insanity is right at the heels of the characters, and there’s a captivating sense of having no idea what will happen next”

 

It’s monsoon season in Phoenix, Arizona. Danny’s recent divorce has landed him in a sad flat with a view of a strip club’s flashing neon sign. During the day he works as tech support in a call centre. At night he drives an Uber to make ends meet. He doesn’t sleep.

Julia kept the house and the kid in the divorce, but she has her own problems. As a struggling makeup artist, it’s not easy to support a four-year-old and an Adderall addiction. Not to mention the giant bird she keeps seeing in the backyard. As the rain increases, Danny and Julia slide further toward madness.

Lizzie Vieh’s thriller-comedy is a rich, compelling, outrageous look at two people pushed past their limits. Vieh has a delightfully wicked sense of humour. She never loses sight of the comedy even as the story descends into the darkest places. Director Kristin McCarthy Parker, along with the design team (You-Shin Chen, Sarah Johnston, and Emma Wilk), has crafted an eerie, strange, enticing tension that spirals to a frenzied pitch. Insanity is right at the heels of the characters, and there’s a captivating sense of having no idea what will happen next.

The play opens on Danny (Richard Thieriot). With nuance and wonderful comedic timing, Thieriot pulls us into Danny’s world as he struggles to cope in the aftermath of the divorce. Vieh’s monologue is frequently very funny (Danny’s attempt to buy his daughter a pet is one of the best), while also touching and insightful about how difficult it is to make human connections.

For anyone who feels frustrated hearing men talk at length about having been wronged by a woman, with no voice given to the woman in question, Vieh has your back. About halfway through the show Thieriot exits. Therese Plaehn (Julia) enters, and we get her side of the story. The Julia we’ve heard about for the first half of the show transforms from an off-stage, shallow concept (villainous ex-wife), to a three-dimensional, vibrant character in her own right. Plaehn is refreshing, vicious, and devastating as the pill-popping beauty vlogger Julia. Her tutorial videos are hilarious.

Despite a slightly awkward set change between the two acts, the switch in perspective is an excellent choice that’s hugely effective. In addition to giving us a fuller, richer version of the story, it ensures the time we spend with either character never feels long. Vieh has masterfully created two wholly distinct, vivid monologues for two strong, deeply flawed characters. They complement each other perfectly.

Monsoon Season is a wild, unexpected, sixty-minute whirlwind that will leave you buzzing from the ride. Add it to your Edinburgh Fringe list and you won’t be disappointed. This one’s a gem.

 

Reviewed by Addison Waite

 


Monsoon Season

Underbelly Cowgate until 25th August as part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019

 

 

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