Thank God! A proper Fringe show. Something you will never see on the West End. Petty Tyrant is a surreal, absurdist cabaret, set in the prison of Poets’ Purgatory, where Carlotta-B-from-1593 waits for the Tyrant’s bell to ring-in another poet’s extinction. Just as she – for over 400 years – has been waiting in fear for the bell to ring for her own extinction.
Those who like it, will like it very much indeed
But she must have done something right, because she has been promoted to give us – the audience – the Purgatory Orientation Course.
Carlotta gives the orientation through dance, interpretations of contemporary songs, poetry-rants-raps, discourses on plagiarism and the politics of cultural dominance, a spiritual possession, Q&As with the Tyrant (PT to its friends), audience interviews, and a how-to guide for effective tyranny. No, I don’t understand it either.
There's a lot of Shakespeare, and a lot of stuff that isn't Shakespeare; and there are bits of sense that can be detected among – whatever all the other stuff is.
It feels like a mad ritual where, literally enthralled, the audience are imprisoned by Carlotta’s spell as much as the prison walls of purgatory.
It is appropriate that the show is timed to be held on either side of midnight – on the boundary between waking and dreaming. Perhaps it should be kept a secret?
Original and unique, this show is not for everyone, but those who like it, will like it very much indeed.
