Tuesday 22 October 2024

Linda (for one more week) review (Melbourne Fringe Festival)

Linda is dead. Except she shouldn't be. There's been an administrative stuff up and she's actually one week early. So, she is sent back to Earth. For seven more days, in which Linda decides to throw caution to the wind, quit her job at Harris & Ford, and book herself onto a cruise. What's the worst that could happen? While we never meet Linda in Linda (for one more week), we instead witness the interactions and stories of various people on board the Anders & Cooper cruise ship.

Andy Balloch and Justin Porter perform as all the characters, ranging from a frustrated magician and his assistant, to lifeguards yearning for something more, to wellness workers with big aspirations. The sketches are self-contained but gradually they become to intertwine and cross paths with others which leads to some interesting narrative threads. This also means quick costume changes for Balloch and Porter, as well as switches in movement and voice work, which they seamlessly accomplish, until they start having perhaps too much of a good time.

Even though this is a scripted story, there are numerous moments where the two appear to be improvising, something which they have extensive experience in. It allows them to surprise each other, and part of the fun is watching them persevere with a scene when they are trying really hard not to laugh. I've been in that position myself and it's bloody hard but so bloody funny to watch. However, there can be too much of a good thing and the show would retain its integrity if they remained in character and not begin talking about the judges and reviewers in the audience as an attempt to reel themselves back into the scene.

We don't see Linda's perspective or hear her thoughts on her final week of life, but through her encounters with these employees and customers, we see she is having the time of her life. And the changes she brings to the people of Anders & Cooper cruise ships is a reminder of how small acts of kindness can be catalysts for great things. Perhaps I am reading too much into this, it is a sketch comedy show after all, but either way, you're bound to walk out of Linda (for one more week) having laughed a lot and feeling warm and fuzzy.

Linda (for one more week)
was performed 16 - 20 October as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Image credit: Alex Winner

No comments:

Post a Comment