There are reviews for my play, not all in yet, but this one is interesting:
TUESDAY, 26 JULY 2016
Review The 2 Sides of Eddie Ramone
The 2 Sides of Eddie Ramone
by
Chris Sullivan
A
Comedian's Wake
Poor
old Eddie - you have to feel for him. Like some latter dayCharon,
he's left standing on a boat, in his words, going "into auto
pilot". A stand-up comedian on a North Sea cruise ship
ploughing its way through choppy seas from and to Hull - just one
vowel away from the other place.
In
this way Eddie (Emmerdale and Bergerac veteran Chris Sullivan)
starts his act in The 2 Sides of Eddie Ramone. Dressed in the
colours of a prelate, red jacket and black silk shirt, he takes the
usual place under the spotlight in front of the microphone with a
routine minted before television voraciously devoured years of jokes
honed on the musical hall and club cricuit and spat them out all in
one night.
Both
written and directed by Dublin-born Sullivan, Eddie, an
Irishman with (his stage surname Ramone presumably taken from the
famously divided punk pioneers)
used to be something big on the telly, a quiz show host. Part of a
perfect family with a wife and talented daughter, convent educated
Katie (Shian Denovan) who, with help from her Dad, went straight
into a sitcom after drama school.
The play sprang into life as a one-man show in Santa
Monica and then had a moderately successful run at the Edinburgh
Festival.
Now
developed as a two-hander, it does indeed capture something of the
seriousness, not just in the plotting, but the single-mindedness
coupled with vulnerability needed for the successful comedian.
The
tragic tale of Eddie and his daughter can be taken at face value as
a family melodrama. But it also explores the intersection
between celebrity, family, sex, the paparazzi and reality TV. Plus
the new digital television environment (the sub editor in me did
wonder whether this was why the title had "2" in figures
instead of the word "Two"), drugs, booze, prostitution
and, with an extremely light touch, politics and agents.
The
performances are skilful and the drama draws together throughtfully
the threads of our modern age. Sullivan shows his chops as a
seasoned actor, although occasionally at the beginning, there was a
tendency to drop his voice a little too confidentially and inaudibly
in filmic style. Donovan is impressive as his daughter Katie, in the
garb of a medieval nun, in whom past, present and future meet.
At
the same time, the balance between stereotypical dramatic tropes and
the all-too common causes of true-life celebrity downfall is a
delicate one to maintain. The pacing sometimes sags and we did
wonder what the eye of a separate director would bring out in the
subtle interlacing of themes where literature becomes intertwined
with life.
Still
it's a detailled performance from Sullivan with Denovan successfully
portraying the younger generation and the uncredited lighting
following a trajectory of its own with a hint at one point of early
filmmaking.
The
play runs until Saturday, July 30 and with a rousing yet elegaic
Joycean ending going back to Eddie's music hall roots coming over
crystal clear, this was a thought-proving 70 minutes with a pleasing
delivery. So it's an amber light
from your very own TLT reviewing double-act.
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