The brilliance of the Edinburgh Fringe is that you can see things which blow you away in the most unexpected of places, and things which are awful in the most anticipated. Today I was cruelly disappointed in what I was sure was going to be a good work. With Linda Marlowe, Josie Lawrence and puppeteers Blind Summit involved how could it go wrong? Yet The Time Step shows that even with the most appreciated talent, if the writing is as loose and silly as this is, then there youre in for a dully infuriating time of it.
Cid and Ginger are a mother and daughter locked in a malevolent yet co-dependent relationship. Set in a lurid pink bedroom we see the two of them fighting over Tony, Gingers child, with disturbing yet in the ending depressingly predictable consequences.
Although there is one moment of interest in this play revolving around Tony (which as the highlight of this production I am loathed to give away) this is a piece which has no empathic characters and as such it is hard, neigh impossible, to feel for anyone involved in this dysfunctional story. The audience is therefore left watching 3 people and a puppet child (a stylish if slightly superfluous addition) that one has no feeling for what-so-ever and it becomes frankly interminable.
With such a parlous script, the actors are left with little to work with, and sadly are not able to infuse any humanity into these two dimensional characters. The emotions are often contrived, and they do not seem even to be connecting with one another, leaving very little for an audience to want to watch.
The artists involved in this production and the space, set, lighting and costume are all of the highest standard. This is why it is so depressing when on leaving this show, one feels as though its all been a waste. Instead please go and see a little show with a third of the money but triple the writing talent and reinforce what the Fringe is so unique at.
