Google
 
Web www.curtainup.com
Fabulation, a CurtainUp London review CurtainUp
CurtainUp

The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features, Annotated Listings
www.curtainup.com


HOME PAGE

SEARCH

REVIEWS

FEATURES

NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings


LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway

NYC Restaurants

BOOKS and CDs

OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
DC
Philadelphia
Elsewhere

QUOTES

On TKTS

PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS

LETTERS TO EDITOR

FILM

LINKS

MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
Writing for Us
A CurtainUp London London Review
Fabulation



It's got a lovely view of the next building. I counted the number of bricks …. 6473.
---- Grandma
Fabulation
Clare Perkins as an Inmate and Jenny Jules as Undine
(Photo: Tristram Kenton)
American playwright Lynn Nottage's most recent play Fabulation or the Re-education of Undine comes to London's Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn. It is a charming comedy which takes a satirical look at a New York business woman's fall from an affluent and privileged life style to one where she is forced to re-examine her materialistic values.

Played very tongue in cheek, Fabulation reminded me of those magazine photo cartoons which tell romantic tales with photographic stills and large bubbles of amazement, astonishment and dismay. Playing non stop for one hour fifty minutes, as Undine, Jenny Jules puts in a magnificent, marathon performance full of exaggerated wit and high drama. Fabulation is pastiche but just below the surface laughter are some very serious points about family and values, ambition and scruples.

The British audience, unlike that in New York, greatly enjoyed the intercession of the Yoruba priest Babalawo (Lucian Msamati), obviously something that Londoners can relate to and find very humorous. I really liked the scenes set in the Drug Users Anonymous support group where Undine's protests that she is not and never has been an addict are met with gasps of sanctimonious horror for the extent of her denial. The ex-addicts have just been applauding their individual anniversaries of "being clean". Undine is however telling the truth. She has been placed on one year's group drug counselling after taking pity on her wheel chair bound grandmother and trying to secure a crack cocaine deal for the old lady who has covered her crack habit injections by pretending to be diabetic.

I don't think that Lynn Nottage expects us to believe all the inventive improbabilities of Fabulation like the way in which a successful business woman supposedly lost all financial control to Hervé (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) the smooth operator with a great line in tango based seduction. Or the dreadful series of coincidences and catastrophes that contribute to Undine's descent economically and socially. But Undine does become a more attractive person. She starts the play as an unreasonable boss and ends it pregnant and almost fulfilled. But the story is apocryphal, a cautionary tale not to let success make you get decency out of perspective.

Indhu Rubasingham directs at a fair pace. Robert Jones' elegant set is light and bright and his costumes are fun. Fabulation is a very entertaining evening, made special by the hard working and talented cast who take on several roles each. It seems as if the cast is much bigger as their roles are differentiated by clever costume and wig changes. It is of course Jenny Jules' evening as Undine, formerly Sharona. Her high profile, magnetic energy does not pale for a moment. This play is a super climax to the Tricycle's African-American season.

For Elyse Sommer's review of Fabulation off Broadway
go here

a list of all book reviews, see our,
VALVESGate valvePRESSURE VALVESGlobe valveCHECK VALVES
FABULATION OR THE RE-EDUCATION OF UNDINE
Written by Lynn Nottage
Directed by Indhu Rubasingham

Starring: Jenny Jules
With: Claire Lams, Nathan Osgood, Don Gilet, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Clare Perkins, Lucian Msamati, Carmen Munroe
Design: Robert Jones
Lighting: Jon Driscoll
Sound: Colin Pink
Composer: Paul Englishby
Running time: One hour 50 minutes with no interval
Box Office: 020 7328 1000
Booking to 18th March 2006
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 20th February 2006 performance at the Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn High Road London NW6 (Tube: Kilburn)
a list of all book reviews, see our,
VALVESGate valvePRESSURE VALVESGlobe valveCHECK VALVES




©Copyright 2006, Elyse Sommer.
Information from this site may not be reproduced in print or online without specific permission from esommer@curtainup.com