Written and Performed by Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland
Review by Marina Funcasta
When it comes to Fringe shows, I can’t help but consider those with long titles to be a bit of a write-off. Not even fitting into the (admittedly miserly) space afforded to them by the program, I find long titles already admissions of the writer’s wider contempt for concision. This being a well-known Achilles heel for many shows at the Festival, I take this to be my sacred, if a bit arbitrary, streamlining tool through which several shows get filtered out my list.
This is perhaps why it has taken me so long to finally give Xhloe and Natasha’s Written and Performed by Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland this First a chance. And boy, is it making me question a lot.
The show is effervescent. From the physical sequences to the dialogue to the pair’s chemistry, the performance grows like a competitive, sometimes aggressive, tennis match. Played by seven-year-old scouts, Ace (Natasha Roland) and Grasshopper (Xhloe Rice) refuse to concede their name to their competitor, determined to beat out each other in the silly games that evoke an acutely American notion of boyhood. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn came to mind – that is, if the military context were in Vietnam, not within America itself.
This comparison underpins an interesting, if not imperative, point about Xhloe and Natasha’s performance, and the one which I think justified the stand-out nature of the story: there being no textual reference to the war, or indeed any socio-political contextual forces, we are led into their world by the excellence of their acting alone. And the odd Beatles instrumental, which does help I suppose.
Far beyond just an ode to America’s long-history with rural camping culture, Xhloe and Natasha capture a phenomenon which feels almost mystical. Interweaving scenes demonstrating dynamics of the boys’ home-lives, there is a story about a boy who wants to become a man so badly that he follows the guidance of a witch. This slightly more mythical side-plot is the golden thread which holds this youthful tapestry together.
As for the title, I guess I’ll let it slide. Arriving home after the performance, I couldn’t help but be fascinated by the panorama of history which foregrounded their story, and looking up article after article about the period, I stumbled across a letter. An open letter to Lyndon B himself. This show is absolutely drenched in history, that is, if you have a keen enough eye to catch it.
Effervescent
A Letter to Lyndon B Johnson or God: Whoever Reads This First runs at TheSpace@ Niddry St
Running time: Sixty minutes without interval
Review by Marina Funcasta (contact@corrblimey.uk)
Marina is halfway through an English literature degree at Edinburgh University, wherein she has been (considerably) involved in the drama scene: enjoying performing with their Shakespeare Company shows, but also modern takes on Arthur Miller. However, Marina’s interests are wide-ranging under the theatre genre – enjoying abstract, more contemporary takes on shows (with a keen interest in Summerhall)
