Monday, August 11, 2008

"Free Outgoing" - Edinburgh Fringe 2008

"Free Outgoing" a Royal Court Theatre production at The Traverse explores what happens when a teenager does something she really shouldn't, and it all gets caught on camera. This is a tale of moral outrage, conservative values and how technology can let the genie out of the bottle - and make it impossible to put back.
Deepa is her mother's golden girl who, in a situation reminiscent of Claire Swire, quickly become infamous for an act of teenage stupidity, that has wide reaching consequences on her mother, brother and community as a whole.

Lolita Chakrabarti gives a particularly striking performance as Malini, Deepa's mother, whose hard-worked for life is falling apart before her eyes and who has no control over the events that are threatening her family. Whilst Amit Shah effectively portrays her teenage son Sharan, who has lived his life in his sister's shadow and is now directly affected by her disgrace. Although set in a conservative area of India, strong performances from the entire ensemble bring us a story that could happen in any country in the world.

In the past if you fell down stairs or slipped on a banana skin the most you had to worry about as some bruises - both physical and to your dignity. Anupama Chandrasekhar's tale reminds us that now due to the ubiquitous camera phone you can become an unwilling celebrity.

Free Outgoing runs at The Traverse (various times) until 24 August.

Photo by Marc Bremner. Used with permission.

1 Heckle

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I enjoy your blog, as it is interested primarily in theatre.
May I suggest a show that most likely would slip by your attention, as it is under dance and physical theatre, although I feel that it is firmly a theatre piece. The work in question, 'The Feast of the Ants" by Mugensha Theatre Company is a chekhovian ensemble piece by a japanese group, perhaps even 'Saltykov-Schedrinian', as it is very acerbic at places, a kind of tragicomedy that traces a destruction of a small japanese village. I chanced upon them purely by chance and was thoroughly surprised. I was with a mixed company and expected another ' far-eastern extravaganza', as it is approximately what was promised on the misleading leaflet. What I got was theatre, a delicious satire: hilarious, yes, but more importantly, sophisticated, interesting and superbly acted. I can not find an intelligent review on them anywhere which makes me think that other people have operated under similar misconceptions to mine and expected more samurai swords and less literature (this is my background). Just a friendly suggestion.