A Rabbit. Headphones. Finger Puppets. A New concept for Fringe 2014, but anything goes right? Well not always.
Biding Time (remix) is based on Louise Quinn’s experience of the corrupted music industry and the difficulties she faces as a female. It shows the journey of her as a more natural acoustic singer to being forced to become a sexualised lip-syncing pop princess – a story a little too overdone in all honesty. Quinn is guided along by her sidekick giant rabbit who likes gardening, finger puppets and frying hearts for fun. The madness does not end here.
The performance is set out as a gig meets multimedia play however the actors fail to rouse the audience and interact with them to make it feel like a gig instead it feels a little one dimensional.
The audience are given headphones before the performance begins which is a new and exciting concept and certainly fitting with the music industry plot. However, they are slightly disappointing as only live music is played through them questioning the reasoning behind why there is live music at all. The concept is interesting and could have been used more effectively to further enhance the themes of the piece by possibly adding different sound effects or experimenting with the live music.
The piece also encourages the audience to use their phones to take photos of the performance which is an exciting new contemporary twist in breaking theatre conventions. However, there was no encouragement in the performance or from the actors who still treated the audience as a fourth wall despite their initial idea of interaction. The concept of phones and personalised technology is again very unique but could have been used more throughout the performance to create a more experimental and digitally enhanced piece and encourage the audience to become part of the experience rather than passive spectators.
What seems like a great concept initially, falls a little flat. What seems edgy and contemporary, perhaps a little eccentric is slightly tarnished by the play’s overdone plot line and overarching theme. This is a piece of theatre which is extremely unique however the impressive multimedia seems like a wasted opportunity.