A can of Iron Bru, a sugary gas-filled concoction known across the land as fizzy pop, is presented to theatre goers as they take their seats for Roar Productions Edinburgh offering Iron Brew. It is at this point that the sweetness ends and the two actors launch into an angst-ridden performance which does little to redeem a script which started life as a rejected strand of the TV hospital drama Holby City.
Before the show started we were told by the stage manager (almost incidentally and not as part of the show) that the action takes place on the roof of a hospital in Canada. From here on in the actors slap the audience with one harrowing experience after another. Trish (Victoria Johnston) has been told that after her next session of chemotherapy shell no longer be able to conceive or be left with any tits, as we are brutally but passionately informed. Suzie (Hayley Rudd) is Trishs doctor, though I assumed for the first part of the show that she and Trish were both patients in some kind of mental hospital judging by the passion with which the lines were delivered.
Both actors take it in turns to give us their full range of emotion, which is great. However someone should take these young actors in hand and advise them that it is not necessary to do so just because you can.
Some of the writing is genuinely intriguing, but when put together in this way I left the theatre feeling like Id seen some kind of Theatre of The Abused. It intrigued me as to why this play was called Iron Bru, as apart from the free can and the bottle on stage the only reference came when Trish informed us that she was going to count the bubbles once shed stopped counting the stars.
For the power of the acting and some of the writing it is easy to see that this company is capable of much better things. Perhaps the next time the writer has an idea rejected by a TV company he should take the hint.
