★★★★
“Bride or groom? Oh, it doesn’t matter; the seating plan’s gone out the window anyway!” says best man Bert as we enter the theatre for Something Blue. The chaos is a premonition for the shambolic wedding we are about to witness.
Forth Wall Theatre Company’s Something Blue takes place at Tesman and Juliet’s wedding but there is a problem: Juliet is nowhere to be found. Lady Capulet is panicking about the welfare of her daughter, Helen is furious, drowning her sorrows with alcohol, while Bert laments over the time they all wasted planning the wedding. Only Hedda, Tesman’s best friend who is in love with him, is unsurprised. Can the group put aside their differences to get to the bottom of what’s going on?
By far, the strongest characters are Bert and Helen, Tesman’s mum. Bert is a scattery character, clearly anxious that the wedding goes well. He provides lots of comic relief and is a very likeable character. On the other hand, Helen is selfish and downright nasty to the other characters. She rants at Tesman, saying she sacrificed so much for him and he doesn’t appreciate her enough to marry someone rich so she can retire. She does have a touching moment where she bonds with Lady Capulet over the struggles of raising a child alone, but overall, we don’t warm to her at all. The other characters feel undeveloped and flat in comparison. As all the names are taken from classic plays, the company may expect us to assume their personalities, but it’s hard to do this without prior knowledge of the shows.
What it lacks in character development, it more than makes up for in the entertainment factor. It’s jam packed with fun and humour. A particular highlight is when Lady Capulet believes she recognises a face in the audience and scolds him for excessively drinking at another wedding, especially when we realise she’s talking to a child. There’s also a funny segment where Helen and Lady Capulet invite the audience up to join them in the Gay Gordons, which many people do with gusto. Audience participation is really not my cup of tea, but it certainly worked well in this show.
It is the company’s Fringe debut, and they are bursting with potential, but there are lots of little things they could do to elevate their performance to the next level. Small details, such as ironing their outfits, would make them seem much more professional. Overall, Something Blue is full of fun and joy, and the cast have a bright future ahead of them—much brighter than Juliet and Tesman’s!
Something Blue will be performed at Venue 45 @ theSpace until 16 August as part of Edinburgh Fringe.
Words by Ellen Leslie
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