Lizzie Roper is a very funny stand up and talented actress. This year, however, shes brought a very different show to the Festival, and the result is a riveting and hysterical sixty minutes.
For months she researched the sex of lives of men and women, straight and gay, gaining their trust and cajoling them into committing to tape every detail of their sex lives. She honed the final choice down to six remarkable characters, and listens to their stories through an ear piece on stage, perfectly replicating live every nuance, breath, laugh and word of their recording. The result is extraordinary, the technique rendering Ropers performances as much more real and immediate than a simply learned script. This is Creature Comforts meets Kinsey.
And one wonders if Kinsey ever extracted such remarkable information. I thought I was pretty unshockable, but the things people get up to is mind boggling. Perhaps more interesting is the effect their experiences have had on the way they see the world. I particularly liked the ex psychiatrist who has heard so many weird and twisted confessions from clients down the years that when she watches Crimestoppers she thinks she knows all the rapists and perverts who committed the crimes.
Roper slips seamlessly between segments of her six characters, her remarkable vocal and acting skills instantly letting the audience know who is talking. And boy is she aided by her subjects words as they provide material it would be almost impossible to make up. The sad but candid older man who seeks women on the internet informs us dryly, and without irony, that the Germans didnt want the Americans to know Hitler was into watersports with his niece in case they used the information to blacken his name!
One minor cavil is that because she has to stay utterly faithful not only to the sense of her subjects words but the exact rhythm and timing, she is sometimes unable to pause for laughter to subside. And theres plenty of laughter as well as poignancy. This must be one of the most original shows on the fringe, and if you miss it youll miss something very special.
