Satima's Blogspot: February 2015

Thursday, 5 February 2015

Why waste a perfectly good review?

Thursday, February 05, 2015 |

Posted by Satima Flavell

Perth's Fringe Festival is in full swing, and I am in full-on reviewing mode. I've seen four shows so far - the most recent, Matt Prince's A British Bloke's Guide to Being a Man, was last night, and a very funny and touching show it was. (My review should go up within the next couple of days.)

However, due to 'clerical error' not one, not two, but THREE reviewers from Artshub attended the third show, Promise and Promiscuity. Two of us found out about the glitch and we agreed I would submit a review while the other lady took a break - but we didn't know that a third reviewer, Mariyon Slany, was also in the house and unlike me, she was prompt in submitting her review. You can read Mariyon's review here But that meant I was stuck with a review that would not see light of day unless I published it myself. On the premise that no performer, writer or artist can ever have too many reviews, here it is!

Ahem (clears throat noisily) Cue review-writing mode ...

Billed as ‘A new musical by Jane Austen and Penny Ashton’ Promise and Promiscuity lives up to its title in many and varied ways. For starters, New Zealander Penny Ashton is a performer full of promise, and she is quite promiscuous in pinching bits of other people’s work to create something new and wonderful.

Much of the ‘pinching’ comes from Austen, of course – Ashton tells the audience that there are thirty-three quotes from that author’s work in the show (I must admit that some of them passed below my radar) and the characters, as might be expected, are lifted from Pride and Prejudice. And the music is plagiarised from Beethoven, Strauss and the Top Forty, inter alia.

(Spoilers follow!) Of course, the plot is loosely based on Pride and Prejudice. The Bennet family, however, has been pruned down to the widowed Mrs Slowtree, her two daughters, Elspeth and Cordelia, and an obnoxious cousin, Horatio. Mr Darcy is there, of course, in the form of one Reginald, and – here is where the plot departs from Austen – he has a friend who is Elspeth’s first choice in the husband line. However, the said friend turns out to be under the thumb of his titled mother and leaves poor Elspeth in the lurch. For, as Reginald wisely observes, ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young man in possession of a fortune wants to keep it’! Mention should be made of one more character, Mr David Smith, who is pulled from the front row of the audience to learn to dance. And in the end, he is betrothed to Cordelia. (End spoilers!)

The show is funny, clever and full of subtle bawdiness (Elspeth finds balls attractive) and there are clever anachronistic jokes, such as reference to a new ‘topless Aston-Martin carriage’. Apart from the gentleman drawn from the audience, all the above roles are played by Penny Ashton, and it is one of the best solo shows I’ve ever seen. In fact, a truth that should be universally acknowledged is that Penny Ashton is a brilliant and extremely versatile performer who knows her Austen inside out, perhaps thanks to her degree in Drama and the Classics from Canterbury University. She plays all the above roles with aplomb. For just over an hour, she chats, sings, mimes and dances her way around a minimalist set, consisting of two chairs, a table, and a small screen to hide the various props. The characters are clearly recognisable, each with individual mannerisms (e.g. Cousin Horatio snorts a lot). Ashton even gives each character an individual curtain call.

A look at Ashton’s web site shows that she is a pro-active performer, full of creative ideas that have given her a repertoire of solo shows as well as a place in the ConArtists Improv Company. Multi-talented Ashton is proficient in dance, acting, singing, mime and, one suspects, stand-up comedy. She also plays a mean ukulele and knows enough about the publishing world to make in-gags about writing contracts and fan fiction (with of course, bawdy undertones). What’s more, she moonlights as a marriage celebrant! She is taking Promise and Promiscuity to the Adelaide Festival next, and Edinburgh after that. I hope the Scots love it as much I did.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Panache Productions Present
Promise and Promiscuity
Written and performed by Penny Ashton
Music by various composers arranged by Robbie Ellis
Workshop Director: Ben Crowder

Fringe World, Perth
www.fringeworld.com.au
29 January – 3 February, 2015

My other Fringe reviews so far have been of the delightul Divalicious and the loveable La Soirée - both of them were also 5-star performances. Never before have I given three shows in a row five stars apiece, but Perth Fringe is now attracting world class artists, many of whom spend part of every year travelling from fringefest to fringefest. Next on the circuit for most will be the Adelaide Fringe Festival, and after that, Edinburgh. If you live in either of those places watch out for the above acts. Take my word for it – they are excellent.

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