Theatre Review
Half-Wit Theatre First Class
Blue Elephant Theatre
7-25 October 2008
A review by Sarah Leech-Black for EXTRA! EXTRA!
In First Class, Michael Bates (Nir Paldi) arrives at the post office with a package to send when he meets over-the-top post-woman Beatrice (Amy Nostbakken.) Besides the standard mailing packages she zealously sells, she offers a vacation getaway to Paris, something the resigned Michael is "not interested" in. Nostbakken as Beatrice dazzles Paldi (Michael) with daydream visions of the great romantic city, from the top of the Eiffel tower to the sultry setting of an afterhours jazz bar. He leaves the post office a bit dazed, the package the least of his concerns. With minimal stage scenery and plainclothes costumes, the show relies on the performances of Nostbakken and Paldi to keep audience members engaged - and it does. The character of Beatrice could potentially be grating, one can imagine the numerous exclamation points that smatter the script, but the expressive Nostbakken entertains rather than annoys. Paldi as Michael is amusing as well, his unavoidable awkwardness as comedic as her intentional goofiness. The unexpected compatibility of overenthusiastic Beatrice and reserved Michael draws in the audience as gently as Paldi is persuaded of the magic of Paris. With few props, the actors use movement and improvised sounds to recreating scenes of Paris. Though these mimed sequences can be a bit abstract, it allows the audience to slip into their own memories of Paris, how they might remember it. The lighting, designed by Jules Richardson is simple but suitable. The delicate twinkle of Christmas lights adds to the contagious enchantment of all the talk of the "City of Lights."
Box Office: 020 7701 0100 Tickets £10 (£8 Concessions) Half-Wit Theatre is a new Le Coq-trained company.
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ary Couzens