Posted on 08/05/2003 9:00:59 AM PDT by Loyalist
Billing itself as "ultimate minimalism," a play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is charging theatre-goers to stare at an empty and silent stage for an hour.
With no cast, no plot, no props and no script, the play has attracted wide media coverage in Britain but, alas, completes its emptiness by also attracting next to no audience.
Appropriately called Sweet FA, the play's opening night attracted six journalists to the early morning performance at the 142-seat theatre inside Edinburgh's Crowne Plaza Hotel.
On the second night, one journalist turned up but fell asleep in the lobby before the show began.
Perhaps gauging public reaction, the venue scheduled Sweet FA to start at 1:40 a.m.
As an inducement to theatre-goers, the producers offer half of the nearly $7 ticket price as a refund to patrons who stay for the full hour.
Mounted by the Theatre of Relativity, an obscure theatre group, the play is billed as "the ultimate challenge to contemporary theatre."
Obviously poking fun at the pomposity of theatre criticism, the creators distributed their own analysis of the production, calling it "Retro -- to the pre-linguistic age" and "Naturalistic -- you'll find it hard to know exactly when the play begins."
In a press release promoting the play, Sweet FA was also called: "The play Samuel Beckett always tried to write but never had the balls to pull off," referring to the acclaimed Irish author of Waiting for Godot, a play where characters wait for something that never happens.
"Only time will tell if it captures the public's imagination as they drain out of the pubs and clubs," said Julian Caddy, manager of the venue hosting the show.
"I think if the Fringe is about anything, it is about having fun and experimenting. The beauty of the Fringe is you can do anything you like and, if you choose, nothing at all," he said.
Members of the Scottish parliament, however, were not amused.
"It's just nonsense," said Conservative Phil Gallie.
"I don't think it's art. Art usually indicates that somebody did something," said independent parliamentarian Margo Macdonald.
The 57th Edinburgh Festival Fringe opened on Sunday and is one of the world's largest festivals of dramatic art. It often courts controversy by hosting experimental and bizarre productions.
This year there are more than 21,000 performances of 1,500 shows being staged in 207 venues across the city.
ahumphreys@nationalpost.com
© Copyright 2003 National Post
Sounds kinda like a Hillary press conference.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.