unADULTeRATED LOVE – Fringe Review

I have never seen anything like this show.

First off, I am amazed at how much talent Rachelle Fordyce brings to the stage.

She has amazing comedic skills, she is able to think on the fly and interact with the audience, and she is also able to generate a huge amount of empathy for moments of insecurity, sorrow and pain.

She has created this wonderfully rich character, Fizzy Tiff, who is loveable and funny and odd. Rachelle obviously has a very clear vision of the world she wanted to create on stage – from the lighting, the music (which includes a wonderful Amanda Palmer piece), and the costumes.

With all of this talent and ability, Rachelle could have easily done a very safe and tame show. Everyone would have laughed and loved it, the houses would be full, and everyone would have forgotten the specifics by the time they got back to work on Monday. But instead of the safe path, Rachelle takes a huge risk and takes things to the edge by doing a show that is completely interactive. She is at the mercy of her audience.

She could have stopped there. It’s not that uncommon to see a Fringe performer take that kind of risk. She could have done an edgy but still relatively safe show by re-writing it to use male volunteers. But she didn’t. She went off into a territory that I have never seen anyone go before.

And I’ll tell you, the subject matter gets a little awkward. But even when I felt a little uncomfortable, I was laughing. It is impossible not to laugh – she is just that funny.

How often do you see a show where you have no frame of reference, nothing to compare it to?

This was one of the gutsiest things I have ever seen.

Rachelle’s keen understanding of how to create a character that people care about makes it all work. And it’s because she didn’t play things safe, I’m going to remember this performance on Monday. And for a long time after that. ”

~ Steve Seguin, London Fringe Board of Directors

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