Fool's Gold is a production that smacks heavily of the dreaded GCSE devised drama piece. Many elements of the play could easily appear on a checklist of theatrical clichés to avoid. Fairytale with a dark twist? Check. Vaguely controversial and socially prevalent issue used as the obvious 'theme'? Check. One or two physical theatre gimmicks thrown in to give the piece 'experimental' kudos? Check, check, check.In fairness, the show is put on by a young group of actors. Yet while I admire their mettle, this still doesn't make the performance any more enjoyable to watch. Scenes are drawn-out and stagnant, in which lame dialogue runs – or limps - around in circles. Underdeveloped stock characters that could be lifted from any bog-standard children's book (evil witch, plucky joker, brassy queen, stoic knight) are woefully two-dimensional and I find it impossible to care about any of them. The plot is lazy and convoluted. During the first three quarters of the play we follow chirpy, nasal little girl (predictably clad in dungarees) as she goes on a big adventure to find dead wizards who might be able to save her brother. Who is either dying at the hands of a witch with a medication fetish, or that nasty 'Creature' he has been fighting in secret for reasons undisclosed.These events are eventually revealed to be a metaphor; a fantasy in a young girl's head that she has devised as a way of coping with a similar tragedy she must face in the real world. The metaphor doesn't entirely hold up. Although the genuinely touching ending, combined with inventive set design and some gloriously gruesome masks, saved the performance from my total condemnation, I have to conclude that there is too much foolishness to be endured, and not nearly enough gold.
