Reviews

Matt Byrne has been bringing his self-written and directed pieces to Maxim’s Wine Bar during the Fringe for 22 years. This year his offering is a piece that “takes marriage right up the aisle”.  Married at First Fight is a spoof of a well-known and in my opinion asinine reality television show – no prizes for guessing which one.

Joana Simmons is Joy, the career Group Fitness Instructor, here to lift the lid on the inside story of the fitness industry. This is a high-energy, protein-fuelled 45 minutes of cardio, clowning and confessions. If you’ve ever been to a group fitness class and wondered about what goes on behind the scenes, this is the show for you. Anyone who has worked as a Group Fitness Instructor will identify with Joy and her “confessions” all too readily.

Pauline Gibson (Siân Brooke) turns her attention from medicine to politics after a campaign to save her local hospital in Corby. When she contemplates running for Labour leadership (as a former independent outsider) the play explores the life events that motivate her decision. This is achieved through flashbacks capturing various moments with important figures in her life such as her old boyfriend, Jack Gould (Alex Hassell), who is a Labour stalwart loyalist and her political rival, and her fractious mother, Blaise Gibson (Liza Sadovy).

This comedy, which at times borders on farce, is set in an elegant hotel suite in Cleveland, Ohio in 1934. Tito Merelli, a famous opera singer, is to arrive with his wife to perform in the city. Unfortunately, he is famous for other things and reliability is not one of them. We follow what happens over the next few hours from his arrival, finally, in Cleveland to just after the performance of the opera. A heck of a lot can happen in a short period of time.  In this play, nearly everything possible does hilariously happen.