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DEAD MEN DON’T The Garage International Until 12 Mar 2011
Review by Jamie Wright
Done in the style of a live-action radio play in front of a studio audience – complete withadvertisements, dance numbers and live sound effect and music – 'Dead Men Don't' pays homage to thegreat detective-noir stories of the 30s and 40s.
Steve Powell is an actor on a weekly radio drama; life starts to imitate art, though, when he is caught upin a murder investigation he draws on his experience of playing a detective to help solve it.
Allison Williams' script, adapted for the Fringe by Todd Espeland, is hilarious and chock-full ofaffectionate parodies of both radio drama and the gumshoe detective genre.
The performances are great, particularly Ken McCloud, who switches between the nebbish Powell andhis monologue-delivering, tough-talking gumshoe alter-ego with ease. Melody Wilson is similarly good asthe obligatory 'dame', Barbara Mitchell, and sings a wonderful a cappella version of 'Under the Rainbow'.
Clever, funny and almost certainly unlike anything else you'll see in the Fringe.
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5) |
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