It’s the light peppering of spelling and grammar errors through the opening projection slides that first made me nervous about this show. Chatterbox and the Proper Abuse of Language is billed as a show that examines the use and abuse of language, exploring the history of its development and how it is that blunders in communication occur so easily. The implication of the errors in the slides, then, is that they are strategically placed, and that the performers will reference them in the show with hilarious self-deprecation, and we’ll all have a laugh about how easy it is to mix up ‘your’ with ‘you’re’ and ‘to’ with ‘too’. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. Instead, the errors continue, in earnest, until the audience is left – as the publicity material promises – wanting more, but in the disappointed sense of the phrase.
Chatterbox is a fast-paced, two-person show performed by Kaylah Fitzgerald and Owen Timoney, two members of Philadelphia’s Madcap Theatre company. The high speed dialogue is a signature of Madcap, and much of the performance is Fitzgerald and Timoney talking fast, telling stories, and finishing each other’s sentences. All this makes for some very funny moments and some sharp wordplay. The script is tight and clever and challenges its audience, who are required to stay awake and pay attention if they want to keep up. The fiery pace, however, leaves no room for error, so when there is some it’s magnified, while the performers themselves need to be completely switched on to create the energy and stage presence required by the script. On this particular evening, the end result was a little like Fitzgerald and Timoney were reciting a song they know really well but aren’t actually particularly excited by.
It also meant that they ran out of content very quickly, with the performance finishing after only 30 minutes, and with a good portion of this taken up by an intermission of funny text message conversations projected onto the screen at the front. The projector screen itself, which is essential during some parts of the performance and irrelevant during others, is set over in the far corner, meaning that the staging is spread out uncomfortably over the small, intimate Sun House Tent venue.
Fringe World is a highly competitive festival with hundreds of shows. Though Chatterbox is one of the cheaper ones, its lacklustre delivery and minimal content means that it may be wise to invest your $12 elsewhere.
Rating: 2 ½ stars out of 5
Madcap Theatre present:
Chatterbox and the Proper Abuse of Language
Owner/Director/Producer: Owen Timoney
Managing Director: Kaylah Fitzgerald
Sun House Tent, Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge
28 January – 13 February
Fringe World 2013
www.fringeworld.com.au
25 January – 24 February
