Adelaide Fringe. The Roof The House. The Runt, Gluttony. 14 Mar 2013
With some trepidation, I entered what looked like a refrigerated cargo container in order to see a play with the macabre title of ‘I’m Not Pale, I’m Dead.’ Inside, the tiny audience gazed at indeed a pale, dark-haired young lady in a stylish retro red dress decorated with silver sequins that haunted the theatre with dancing shards of reflected light. Eerily, we are smack in the middle of a how-to-be-a-ghost lesson.
A voice from beyond the grave, performer and playwright Lydia Nicholson’s young lady pushes the right buttons in a gentle illustrative way to shake us from a complacent life of insufficient courage and self-expression, so that we may leave this world well. Nicholson has mastered mimicking the vernacular of her generation, and performed with an endearing charm and humour. To be in the presence of her character was consistent with a supernatural encounter. She invited a front row audience member to pass their hand through her arm to prove she was not corporeal. Of course, the actor’s arm was touched, but the spirit’s matter of fact declaration that no resistance was encountered convinced that she was beyond ethereal.
The young dead lady – probably a teacher in her life – had much to impart to us mere mortals, and left audience members with an action list and a smile. Bravo!
David Grybowski
When: Closed
Where: Gluttony, The Runt
Bookings: Closed
