Without a doubt this all-female experimental show is one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen. It was also one of the most enjoyable. Set in “The Centre,” an institution specialising in experimental new techniques for curing obsessive compulsive behaviour, we are introduced to two patients (Dana Etgar and Sarah Chenoweth Kenney) suffering from different obscure and humorous obsessions. Guided by the stern and clinical, yet seemingly unhinged head of The Centre (Katherine Vince) and her silent but secretly subversive assistant (Justina Kaminskaite), a number of weird and wonderful techniques are demonstrated - all aimed to cure the overwhelming obsessions of the two patients.
This really is, for me, what Fringe theatre is all about - something completely different, that tries new things and ends up with an entertaining and unique production.
This show is characterised by the unpredictable - strange things unfold before the eyes of the audience, with hysterical results. With excellent and exceedingly ingenious use of props, physicality, music and facial expression, the four characters construct a captivating, if confusing, world, in which dreams, reality, sanity and insanity all blend together - and anything, no matter how odd, can occur. And I mean anything: robotic, manic dance routines combined with carrots in thigh holsters; a forest made of pot plants; Italian opera singing. The works. In the midst of this experimental mix there are frequent bursts of humour - each of the four performers has a superb grasp of comic timing and physical comedy and uses that to full advantage.
Several things could have been tightened up in order to make this a truly phenomenal production - excessive time lags, dead stage time and clowning sections that dragged all slowed the pace and punchiness of the performance.
This really is, for me, what Fringe theatre is all about - something completely different, that tries new things and ends up with an entertaining and unique production. Smart, sexy and surreal, Unprescribed is a hugely enjoyable hour of inventive insanity.
