A Place With the Pigs

This show wasn't even on my radar, but I was waiting in the line up at the Metro on Saturday when the director approached me with "imagine, a Fringe show with roles for actors over 50". Well, she had my attention.

Beautifully acted by two theatre veterans (the director and one of the actors teach at De Paul and Purdue Universities, respectively) this play by Athol Fugard works on all levels. By turns dramatic, funny, human and real there are levels within levels of metaphysical and existential angst.

Definitely not for those who prefer stand up or sketch comedy.

This show ranks with Jake"s Gift as my pick of this year's Fringe.

When "A Place..." started, I got worried. It's a slower moving show, and I worried that I wasn't going to be grabbed by the plot or the characters the way I hoped I'd be. But you know...I actually was! This was a play that grew on me the more I watched, and I really enjoyed the relationship between the husband and wife, especially the way Proskya (uh oh, I know I'm not getting her name right!) moved back and forth along the continuum of really caring about her husband and being driven totally insane by him...taking him seriously and wanting to give up totally and find a better life for herself. A really nice period piece and study of a relationship that you don't find all that often in a fringe festival...

I enjoyed this show. This is one of the first shows I've seen where flyering did it. The diretor got me out to the show. I was sad that during the show the director took photographs on an extremely loud camera, sometimes with flash. It GREATLY pulled away from several peoples enjoyment. The show was good though. I enjoyed it and so did many others