Paul T Davies reviews Ian Tucker-Bell's Trans Pennine now playing at The Space on North Bridge at Edinburgh Fringe.
Trans Pennine. The Space on North Bridge, Edinburgh Fringe
18 August 2018
3 Stars
A family, comprising father, son and daughter, gather to travel to the Yorkshire Dales to scatter the mother's ashes. It's a site where they had many happy holidays, until the last one, which caused a rift between the parents. Dad is still angry, and the fact that Mum's ashes are in a margarine tub indicates that she is not forgiven. The incident revolved around a pair of earrings, the discovery of which led the father to believe his wife was having an affair with the bloke in the next caravan. What she was actually doing was protecting her son, Ben, who likes wearing women's clothes.
Ian Tucker-bell's script is about the silence that poisons families, and has much going for it. It's shot through with a Northern humour, and contains many witty lines. Ben reveals to his father he now wants to live his life as Amy, and, as the play is based on a true story, it's heart is in the right place and it's respectful of that. The cast have great fun with the meta theatre, criticising the writer and breaking the fourth walk-although this is diluted somewhat by the writer also acting in the production! The acting could also do with some light and shade- the Dad is angry, so his one note is to shout loudly throughout. Anger can take many forms.
In saying that, I enjoyed the commitment to the material the company have, and it seems clear they are reaching an audience who have never thought about the trans experience before. And it's worth it for a killer punchline!
BOOK NOW FOR TRANS PENNINE
Paul is a playwright, director, actor, academic, (he has a PhD from the University of East Anglia), teacher and theatre reviewer! His plays include Living with Luke, (UK tour 2016), Play Something, (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Drayton Arms Theatre, London 2018), , (2019), and now The Miner’s Crow, which won the inaugural Artist’s Pick of the Fringe Award at the first ever Colchester Fringe Festival 2021. In lockdown 2020 he created the audio series Isolation Alan, available on Youtube, and performed online in the Voice Box Festival. He is the founder member of Stage Write, a Colchester based theatre company, and his acting roles include Rupert in How We Love by Annette Brook, first performed at the Vaults Festival 2020 and revived at the Arcola and at Theatre Peckham in 2021. Follow: @stagewrite_
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