REVIEW | Wanstead Fringe
The Room Upstairs ★ ★ ★
Robot Penguin ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Reviewer - Annie
*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
I think we can all agree that theatre is exciting, especially when it is new theatre - whether that be something new from a well loved writer, or from someone totally new to the scene. The anticipation to see what will unravel on the stage, will it change the theatre scene forever, will you find a new favourite show?
One of the best places to see new theatre is at a fringe festival - although perhaps the most well known is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - more and more fringes are popping up around the UK, enabling access for even more creatives to showcase their work - and hopefully continue movements through to the larger festivals.
On Tuesday evening we attended an evening at the Wanstead Fringe festival - a relatively new fringe, which is giving access to lots of new shows, enabling them to fundraise to save for bigger festivals and celebrate many new artists’ works. We were kindly invited along by Baloney Theatre company - who are working in collaboration with the Wanstead Fringe. Baloney is on a mission to tackle difficult subject matters with the relief of “absurd comedy” as quoted on their website.
Founded by Marissa Landy in 2018, the company is working hard to tackle these topics, whilst showcasing many aspiring writers' talents. The company also has the Baloney award - which enables a newly graduated student’s show to be a part of the Fringe each year. I had the pleasure of watching Marissa in a production of Twelfth Night earlier this summer, and she very kindly invited Theatre & Tonic to the Fringe to see a couple of the shows Baloney is producing.
The first show we watched was “The Room Upstairs” - written and performed by Lani Calvert, which follows the struggle of a daughter with her mum’s ME diagnosis and illness. The play cleverly displays the loneliness and difficulty of a family living with an “invisible illness”, and how isolating a situation it is for the family.
Calvert’s writing is naturally humorous and has a wonderful flow to it throughout. It feels comfortable and assured of its intention, and Calvert’s performance is equally as confident.
The use of props throughout the show is a lovely expression of the “invisible characters” but perhaps could have been slightly sleeker. There is one lovely sequence at the main character’s graduation, and the mother’s doctor's appointment - which has been beautifully composed and creates a huge impact. This scene is paired with an empty stage which highlights the intent of the show again. The only withdrawal from this scene was that perhaps it was quite slow, and it took a while to understand what was going on. By the end it created a very moving impact - but in contrast to the assured nature of the rest of the show it felt slightly unclear.
Calvert certainly is a strong writer and writes with great passion. “The Room Upstairs” is a challenging piece which brings to light an important topic by giving a voice to the silent sufferers who can’t speak out for themselves. The balance between this serious subject matter and comedy is done with such excellence that it creates a show that enables audiences to engage fully without leaving feeling too heavy, nor too exposed to light relief. I look forward to seeing what Calvert does next.
The second show was “Robot Penguin” written and performed by Andrew Atha, which couldn’t with contrast “The Room Upstairs” more if it tried. This show was incredibly hilarious from the off-set. Atha has created a show I don’t think anyone thought they needed, but after watching I already hope to be able to watch it again.
What can only be described as a mix of Attenbrough’s knowledge, Theroux’s wit and Atha’s own spoof humour - the show is a whirlwind ride which hooked me immediately. Atha was the winner of the Baloney Award this year, after recently graduating. To say this is his professional debut show is astounding - it is so wonderfully written and shows knowledge beyond his years as a writer.
Despite revolving around a not very serious premise, the underlying message is one very relevant in today’s society and Atha addresses it very intelligently. There is a fine line with comedy of getting laughs in but without just dropping below the belt to get a laugh a minute. Atha manages to get numerous jokes in but remains extremely witty with it - his jokes are smart, relevant and just outright hilarious, very obviously having a natural gift of a comedian.
The use of props and movement are subtly used throughout but only to the added benefit of a punchline or to assist the story - they are clearly incorporated without detracting from the script. It is more than evident that this is a true passion project for Atha and he has created a show of total genius.
His comedy partnered with his writing creates a wonderfully dynamic show which was a total joy to watch. It is very obvious the entire audience shared this opinion, with the performance ending with numerous standing ovations.
It was such a pleasure to attend the evening and watch two such contrasting shows, not only challenging the audience but enabling us to see new talents be born on the stage. I would absolutely return to the Wanstead Fringe next year for more emerging talents - and wish unlimited success to Baloney Theatre Company as they continue their important work in the theatre space.