4Play 2024: One
Fuckers: ★★★★☆ Scabrous
Colours Run: ★★★☆☆ Promising
Traverse: Wed 4/Thurs 5 Dec 2024
Review by Hugh Simpson
Edinburgh-based new writing showcase 4Play returns to the Traverse this week. This time round, the plays are described as full-length developed pieces, although there is still an air of the unfinished at times.
The four plays are being staged over four nights, two plays a night, with the opening two nights dedicated to a double bill of Fuckers by Ruaraidh Murray and Colours Run by Mikey Burnett. On Friday and Saturday it is the turn of Andrea McKenzie with Butterflies and Benefits and Katy Nixon with Cheapo.
The first thing that has to be said about Fuckers is that content warnings for ‘nudity and scenes of a sexual nature’ are rarely as justified as they are here. From the outset, the story of the relationship between Scottish comedian Andrew (Liam Ballantyne) and New York actor Lois (Olivia Caw) is brimming over with flesh and sex, with intimacy director Sasha Harrington having to work overtime.
After meeting at the Fringe, Andrew and Lois struggle to keep a relationship going in the face of geographical separation and the problems of writing together. Not to mention their own flaws and hang-ups, which are depicted with realism. Both Ballantyne and Caw do an excellent job, with Eleanor Felton’s direction energetic and sensitive.
an unsparing honesty
It is something of a jolt to hear Murray’s past plays referenced as Andrew’s work, either indirectly or outright by name. How much of it is autobiographical is neither clear nor relevant, but there is certainly an unsparing honesty to the depiction of the characters, with sadness as well as ebullient humour.
Despite the compelling nature of individual scenes, the play does start to drag over its 80-minute running time. Presenting a story out of sequence like this can be an advantage, as it makes the audience piece it together and think about things in a different way. However, it can also be a sign of lack of confidence that the story would hold up if presented chronologically.
fussy
Constant breaks between scenes, with regular dressing and undressing accompanied in Sam Pashby’s effective sound design by pop-dance hits of various degrees of annoyance, does begin to pall. The structure – like the stage, with its layers of detritus and discarded clothes – comes across as a little fussy.
Nevertheless, the play is essentially a highly impressive one, with a scabrous vigour that makes it very likeable.
Murray returns after the interval in Mikey Burnett’s Colours Run, as Pongo, a Hibs ‘casual’ returning to the home he shares with brother Pete (Sean Langtree) on derby day. Pongo has been involved in a fight with possibly serious consequences, but there are other things in the brothers’ past to confront.
There is a definite resemblance to Of Mice and Men in the way the relationship plays out; that is, if George had been a psychotic Edinburgh radge.
There is a great deal of good writing and sparky dialogue, with both performers extremely impressive, and Grace Ava Baker’s direction is always thoughtful. However, the play doesn’t always hang together very well. The tone veers wildly, with an odd combination of cynicism and sentimentality, and it never seems clear how realistic it wants to be.
terrible events
For much of its running time the play seems to be set in the last century, when the ‘casual’ scene was most active, until the last quarter when it becomes clear it is more or less the present day.
Hinting at terrible events in the past and deep repression, moreover, is not going to work unless the writer, characters, performers and audience all believe in them, which is not really the case here.
All of this makes it seem more of a work-in-progress than a completed piece, albeit one with a good deal of promise.
Running time: Two hours 25 minutes including one interval
Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge St, EH1 2ED
Wednesday 4/Thursday 5 December 2024
Daily at 7.30.
4Play 2024 Two
Butterflies and Benefits by Andrea McKenzie and Cheapo by Katy Nixon
Friday 6/Saturday 7 December 2024
Daily at 7.30pm.
Tickets and details for all nights: Book here
4Play website: https://4playtheatre.com
ENDS