Fringe 2023 The Portable Dorothy Parker theSpaceUK 5th August Review
The Portable Dorothy Parker at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall is one show that any fans of the works, words and wit of Dorothy Parker (b 1893, d 1967) should not be missing and I like to imagine that this well written (Annie Lux), carefully directed (Lee Costello) and so well performed (Margot Avery) show would have made the lady of words herself smile and laugh more than a few times.
You do not have to be familiar at all with any of the works of Dorothy Parker to just sit back and enjoy this carefully crafted work that has more than a few very subtle but very sharp moments of humour within its well-crafted script. Margot Avery’s ability to draw you into her world (well Dorothy Parker’s world) as she makes us all believe that there really is an editorial assistant from Viking Press in the room talking with her about what will make or not make it into the new publication “The Portable Dorothy Parker” in a hotel room in 1943 is a pleasure to watch and listen to. Here is someone who clearly understands that acting is a craft with many different skills that have to come together in one time and place if your audience is going to believe in you at all. This is a one woman show and with the simplest of sets it is what I like to call a “no hiding place performance”. Make one or two small mistakes in a show like this and the audience will never let you recover from them. Margot Avery clearly does not make mistakes on stage (well certainly not for this performance).
If you know, even in passing, some of the greatest names in 20th century literature and magazine publishing then you will get some idea of just how much Dorothy Parker was at the centre of all of this creativity, and often, to put it politely, sharp penned and sharp tongued creative differences of opinions, personal likes and dislikes.
The Dorothy Parker that we meet today is a more mature one who is also reflecting back upon just how much of her youth was misspent drinking and partying, and of course despite her dire warnings she would never have had it any other way. The serious side of her as one of the original founders of the Screen Writers Guild in Hollywood in 1933 is also touched upon here, and the current high profile strikes by both writers and actors to stand up for their rights and be counted is as much a legacy that Dorothy Parker left for future generations as her words did.
Dorothy Parker famously said that she did not want to be remembered as a wit or “wisecracker” – the two as we find out here, to her, were very different things, but time always has a way of preserving what people want to remember, and how many of us so deeply wish that just at that right moment we had somehow found even one of her at times very sharp, even barbed comments to say to someone.
This show is proof that, at its heart, all that good theatre needs is the right words and a performer who has the skill to take those words and breathe life into them on-stage. A good director who knows just how to bring both words and performance together also helps a lot too.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
You do not have to be familiar at all with any of the works of Dorothy Parker to just sit back and enjoy this carefully crafted work that has more than a few very subtle but very sharp moments of humour within its well-crafted script. Margot Avery’s ability to draw you into her world (well Dorothy Parker’s world) as she makes us all believe that there really is an editorial assistant from Viking Press in the room talking with her about what will make or not make it into the new publication “The Portable Dorothy Parker” in a hotel room in 1943 is a pleasure to watch and listen to. Here is someone who clearly understands that acting is a craft with many different skills that have to come together in one time and place if your audience is going to believe in you at all. This is a one woman show and with the simplest of sets it is what I like to call a “no hiding place performance”. Make one or two small mistakes in a show like this and the audience will never let you recover from them. Margot Avery clearly does not make mistakes on stage (well certainly not for this performance).
If you know, even in passing, some of the greatest names in 20th century literature and magazine publishing then you will get some idea of just how much Dorothy Parker was at the centre of all of this creativity, and often, to put it politely, sharp penned and sharp tongued creative differences of opinions, personal likes and dislikes.
The Dorothy Parker that we meet today is a more mature one who is also reflecting back upon just how much of her youth was misspent drinking and partying, and of course despite her dire warnings she would never have had it any other way. The serious side of her as one of the original founders of the Screen Writers Guild in Hollywood in 1933 is also touched upon here, and the current high profile strikes by both writers and actors to stand up for their rights and be counted is as much a legacy that Dorothy Parker left for future generations as her words did.
Dorothy Parker famously said that she did not want to be remembered as a wit or “wisecracker” – the two as we find out here, to her, were very different things, but time always has a way of preserving what people want to remember, and how many of us so deeply wish that just at that right moment we had somehow found even one of her at times very sharp, even barbed comments to say to someone.
This show is proof that, at its heart, all that good theatre needs is the right words and a performer who has the skill to take those words and breathe life into them on-stage. A good director who knows just how to bring both words and performance together also helps a lot too.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com