He's a poet living in her flat.
She's tired of a life without commitment and one day announces, "You have
to go. I'm getting married.''
She's to marry an accountant who will offer her security. He launches into
the story of Bluebeard, a cautionary tale once used to metaphorically
teach young girls to honor and obey their husbands. She just wants to plan
her wedding, he persists, and what follows is a stimulating, multi-level
Fringe experience that, entertainingly and effortlessly, forces us to
examine our notions of commitment, control and capacity for love.
She becomes more and more involved in the tale of the innocent maiden who
marries Bluebeard for his riches only to find herself unable to stay away
from the small locked door with its terrible secret - the one place he has
forbidden her to go. The two performers move beyond the medieval walls of
the simple tale to probe the nature of love, then and now. "It's difficult
to relinquish old gods when so much as been sacrificed to them,'' he tells
her.
It's hard to imagine two performers better suited to this material than Bill
Buffery and Gill Nathanson. He's often larger than life, a classically
trained British actor and he tears into the lines with gusto, at one
point declaiming the familiar words of the marriage ceremony as if he
were Henry V leading the troops at Agincourt. She's given to small,
telling gestures and a bemused naturalism. Together they have more
chemistry than Celanese. The play veers seamlessly from realistic
to poetic. Rich, metaphor-laden words and phrases are repeated again and
again, gaining fresh meaning each time. Even lines thrown away
earlier in the work return freighted with new and textured meanings.
Surviving Bluebeard ends in a series of small, honest and unexpected
gestures of complete caring and vulnerability that will take your breath
away.
It is the perfect Fringe combination of superb performance in the
service of outstanding material. I suggest you spare an hour or so after
this show before you take on the next one. You'll want a little time to
think about Surviving Bluebeard.
Colin MacLean Edmonton Sun
How can
you explain what attracts a woman to a man, or why people get married?
Marriage and relationships are steeped in social context and emotion.
Here, a woman’s greatest hopes and fears, some imposed by society,
others by the media, her own experience and her heart, are explored in
clever animation by performers Bill Buffery and Gill Nathanson.
Nathanson is limber and physical in her performance. Her eyes and
expressions have a voice of their own. She is wonderful as the woman
who is many women- strong empowered reader of informative magazines
like Cosmo, socially appropriate wedding planner with etiquette,
vulnerable child with both a nightmare of Bluebeard and an attraction
to the man she fears, and adventurous and passionate woman.
The woman has a running dialogue with a poet who will not leave her
apartment, and helps her run through her wedding, her nightmares, and
the story of Bluebeard- a man who marries-then kills beautiful women.
The man keeps secrets from her- intimate parts of himself, in a black
book.
Buffery plays well opposite Nathanson. His characterizations ask many
questions and work to illustrate the many faces of man.
The whole effort is clever and energetic. Throbbing contemporary tunes help to set the tone.
And yes, there is complete nudity, but it is in context and although the
moment did earn a giggle or gasp from a few uncomfortable viewers, it
really should not be an issue. More so, when the couple loses their
clothes and gets “down to earth” with each other, they find peace.
That’s something everyone who sees this show will want to do, once
they are confronted by the many issues it raises.
Liz Katynski Winnipeg Fringe Festival
This review first appeared in the Winnipeg Sun.
Liz Katynski is a freelance writer and retains control of the copyright.
Visit her website: www.lizwords.com
A dense
cookie this, a blend of myth, social commentary and philosophy, seamed
with genuine humor, staged by charismatic performers. Gill Nathanson is
the woman about to marry a rich accountant and Bill Buffery is the boho
ex-lover sent packing. The show gets gritty as they recapitulate the myth
of Bluebeard in her apartment at a thrilling clip.
Scott Lingley See Magazine
