FRINGE '04 REVIEW: The Hydrangea Monologues

Set in a student flat in Newtown , 'The Hydrangea Monologues' is a dubious opportunity to spend the afternoon with a bunch of selfish, whining students who don't like each other anymore than you like them. Inevitably though, the pathetic nature of their bonds to each other and their inability to deal with their situations lure you into some sort of marginal sympathy with the plot and their plight. The bitching and manoeuvring at the flat is punctuated by the mostly less than poignant monologues of their slightly crazy upstairs neighbour who has recently murdered her potted hydrangea and is carrying around a dead cat that leaves its smeary blood on her hands and dress.

Some convincing character roles, particularly those of Hamish Brown and Dayle Lee Jones who played each others arch-bitch companions, carried the play through its unlikely scenarios. Sam Shore's script brings awareness to our inability as individuals and a society to communicate with and help the less than mentally stable without missing the opportunity to get cracks out of it. The obvious enjoyment of the cast in their roles kept the show moving and the audience laughing.

ENDS

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