★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Flying Bridge Theatre Company (UK) via Joanne Hartstone. The Bally, Gluttony. 24 Feb 2023
They tout it as “a surrealist comedy”. It is far more. It is like a deep dive into Beckett, Sartre and Kafka. Written by American satirist C.J. Hopkins, it is absurdist, existential, satirical, and deliciously manic with a nod in the direction of Laurel and Hardy. Most importantly, it is a rivetingly good piece of theatre superbly performed in impeccable American accents by a couple of ace actors from a Welsh theatre company.
Here, just to add to the descriptive melange, it is presented in a seriously cute round tent called The Bally set beneath trees on the verdant slopes of Guttony in Rymill Park.
Tousle-haired Sam in denim bib-overalls is the innocent hick parrying with sleek straight man, Bob, who wears shirt and tie. Both are lost in torrents of verbiage, sometimes puzzled, sometimes combative, sometimes political. Ostensibly, they are sharing a bottle of bourbon after a game of cards which was abandoned because of the loss of the nine of diamonds. Their subjects segue in discursive circles touching on seals and fishing, capitalism and crime. Yes, even horses. They are anarchists who hate anarchists. They express the best and worst of American nationalistic sentiments. They talk ceaselessly, incessantly, desperately, furiously. They are trapped in frenetic, meaningless discourse bringing to mind the predicaments of Godot and Endgame and NoExit.
But these are the prisoners of Horse Country, performed with peerless vociferance by Daniel Lllewelyn-Williams and Michael Edwards and directed by Mark Bell,.
The play’s humour is lateral with surprise throwaways. The audience concentrates to keep up. This is not hard, since it is rivetingly intense - but only for 65 breathtaking minutes.
It was a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe and it is destined to be a hit here.
A sensationally satisfying dose of transfixing bafflegab.
Samela Harris
When: 24 Feb to 10 Mar
Where: The Bally, Gluttony
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
