Last year, the new custodians and curators of The Old Fitz theatre, Red Line Productions, invited a fringe favourite, MASTERCLASS, to kick off their inaugural season.
Written and performed by Gareth Davies and Charlie Garber, this entertaining existentialist two-hander was an acerbic and absurd examination of celebrity and the deification of Thespians.
This year, a sequel, MASTERCLASS 2: FLAMES OF THE FORGE, kicks off the 2016 season at the Old Fitz. Happily, it’s a sequel of equal.
The show begins with a one on one interview by David Stratton with Gareth Davies, talking about his most famous character, Charlie Garber.
Charlie, apparently, is dead, and as a tribute to his dear departed, Gareth, the greatest actor, period, is going to plug into the grid and “act” enough power to energise Kuala Lumpur, Charlie’s favourite city.
It all goes horribly wrong and his power prompts an apocalypse, the annihilation of all life on earth and Gareth Oliver Davies, sole survivor resurrects Charlie, figment of his imagination incarnate, to keep him company in the end days.
This is a neat fold back to the previous show in which Charlie cajoles and coerces Gareth to evangelise his talent, the apotheosis of Thespian craft, to the enthralled disciples he can milk for oodles of dollars. Is Charlie Gareth’s alter ego? Altered ego? Or does the acolyte put Gareth on the altar of his ego? Turns out, they’re part of a trinity, as Charlie imagines into flesh a fantasy called Milly.
Existential, metaphysical fun funneled through extreme exaggeration and the exaltation of the film, Twister, MASTERCLASS 2 FLAMES OF THE FORGE, like its predecessor, is a concise piece, done in sixty minutes, well suited to the black box aesthetic of the space.
Energetic and proficient in timing and technique, the actors give their own little master class in theatrical performance.
MASTERCLASS holds forth Tuesday to Saturday at 7.30pm and Sunday at 5pm at The Old Fitzroy till the end of the month
***********GARETH AND CHARLIE WILL ALSO BE PERFORMING THE ORIGINAL MASTERCLASS ON THE 23rd, 24th, 30th & 31st of Jan prior to Masterclass 2. Tickets are sold separately at www.oldfitztheatre.com