BrumHour was invited to preview Me and My Doll by The Old Joint Stock.
By Dave Massey twitter.com/BrumHour
Edinburgh Preview: Me and My Doll
Written and Directed by Lucy Bird
Warning, this production has stolen my seventeen DVDs – all of which seem to be romantic comedies!
Kate (Dru Stephenson) says she hates her corporate job and her colleagues, but really she seems desperate for their approval, especially as she is chasing a promotion just to prove to them she has what it takes.
One day, presumably after a hen do, they leave a blow-up male doll in her office. Feeling singled out for being single Kate is firstly annoyed and secondly revengeful. Kate starts to talk to the doll and since it is 6ft of inflatable plastic, it doesn’t have a lot to say back. How will Kate cope with her need for independence whilst wanting to have a relationship?
I found this contemporary intimate production, co-produced by Paperback Theatre and Old Joint Stock to be funny, charming and thoughtful. there are dark undertones about how we accept things at face value during this play which which co-stars George Attwell Gerhards.
Dru Stephenson is funny, frustrated, touching, and tragic all at the same time as the trapped Kate. The static set is a sofa, a lamp a desk and the swift stark time shifts really help move the action along.
There’s also plenty of music to listen out for some of which links directly into the plot. See how many of my DVDs you can spot references to, throughout August at Edinburgh Fringe.
Paperback Theatre and Old Joint Stock‘s Me and My Doll will be at Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, 3 Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1HT from 31st July to 26th August. Book tickets here: gildedballoon.co.uk/programme/me-and-my-doll
This isn’t a sponsored post.
When not writing about theatre for BrumHour, or producing Interval Theatre for Brum Radio (Tuesdays 3pm) brumradio.com/intervaltheatre, Dave Massey can be found eating crisps and claiming to be at the gym. And tweeting about Birmingham for #BrumHour.
