The Fringe Review Team was back this year at Ventnor Fringe 2024, exploring the festival, watching shows, and meeting performers and crew! The Fringe Review Team worked on putting together the Fringe Review Paper, which was distributed every few days across the festival, but here’s some extra reviews which didn’t fit into the paper.
Visions of the Suburbs
Antidepressance presented the live performance of his original music in an hour long set, aptly titled Visions of the Suburbs. The songs focus on the equally mundane and emotional nature of being a young person living in a small town, expressing the relatable fears surrounding stagnation, loneliness and lack of opportunity. Antidepressance embraces a variety of different genres and styles, including everything form Blues, Pop Punk, Country and Grunge to Doo-wop and American primitivism.
To me the use of vocals, an amplified acoustic guitar and a harmonica, brought a Bob Dylan vibe to the performance. However it was far more than just a best of Dylan tribute, with Antidepressance’s personal tastes and lyrics greatly shaping the style into something unique that was poignant, whilst maintaining a youthful energy and sense of humour. I would recommend seeking out a live performance of Antidepressance music whenever possible.
Middle Age Crisis
Middle Age Crisis was another re-telling of classical folklore related tales, this time located at the lovely Ventnor Arts Club. Unlike similar experiences I’ve been to this was stripped back, without diagetic live music or sound effects. This made sure the audience’s focus was kept on the narrative of the stories being dramatised though; something the narrator Holly Medland used to her advantage, by asking the audience to pay attention and vote on whether they thought each account was an authentic medieval tale, or a Victorian imitation of the style.
By involving the audience Medland made her presentation engaging, you weren’t just sitting there listening to something, you were an active participant in the overall event. The humorous tales covered accounts of alcoholic monks, mistreated werewolves and manipulative knights involved in light hearted, classic escapades. Holly is a local story teller and I would strongly suggest seeking out more of her entertaining sets.
Frankenstein: The True Story
Frankenstein: The True Story was an enjoyable and rewarding short film, brought to the Fringe as part of the Malcompris series by MVM. It covered the early cinematic history of the misunderstood creation, depicted in Mary Shelley’s tragic 1818 novel Frankenstein. As well as including extracts from Shelley’s own work the creators inserted clips from James Whale’s 1931 Frankenstein film and 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein. This monochrome footage of Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester, coupled with inter-titles reminiscent of those common in the silent film era, made viewers feel as if they had been transported back in time to the character’s heyday.
However, this illusion was perfectly broken by it’s juxtaposition with the eclectic mix of classic records the live DJ played over the film footage. Her song choices enhanced the visuals by creating an amazing atmosphere and giving the audience relevant lyrics to mull over; Siouxsie and the Banshees Happy House, being played as Frankenstein longingly observed an inaccessible ordinary life unfold, was an astute choice in my opinion. All the songs were well considered, relating to the overall story being told, and are available as the playlist Frankenstein VFringe on Spotify.
All reviews written by Isaac Leal
