Gerard Noir
Space Triplex
til 26th Aug
“Not your grandparents’ opera. Gerard Noir is a world-premiere, sexy-spy singing show for the sophisticated slut within us all. Follow super-spy extraordinaire Gerard Noir as he tries to save the world from a villainous time terrorist! Laugh and reflect as the show satirises the best of opera, penis jokes and hypermasculinity. (Ba dum cha). Written and composed by queer American composer Jared Schwartz, Gerard Noir is the love child of James Bond, South Park and opera! Fringe premiere. World premiere. Puts the ‘dick’ in ridiculous. (Rated R for language and nudity)”
Review by Richard Lambert, 3 Stars
A bonkers story from a cast of 6 who all have fabulous vocal chops!
Sung right through with minimal props and costumes, operatic style, with a story that didn’t actually make sense to me – something about a spy and stopping/rewinding time – but who cares. It’s slapstick comedy done with conviction and whole loada fun.
Stand-up comedians rarely have a stooge these days. But here you have a pianist on a keyboard who could be your grandma looking very respectable, while the cast throw themselves around singing songs that rhyme “song” with “dong”. And apparently “water stops the clock” – so the hero, Gerard Noir, drops his trousers to indulge. Yes, he has nothing to be ashamed about in that department!
The singing is ab fab and the delivery maelstrom – but the lighting? Oh deary deary me! Advance bar of 6 fresnels on, front bar of 6 fresnels on. That is it! No side-light, no back-light, no colour, no cues. And if this wasn’t fringe enough, the 1st rule of lighting? “Illumination” the venue can’t even get this right! Badly focussed fresnels so that even with 12 flood front lights the cast can still stand in places where their faces are dark. The rig is really poorly focussed – if it even has been? theSpace really do need to up their game when it comes to technical facilities.
Have a drink and if you ever figure out what this bonkers show is actually about – do let me know! 🙂
