The Despondent Divorcée continues at C cubed until 25 August.
Housed in a room, appropriate to its period, HookHitch revives this ‘drawing room’ setting in a similar way their piece This is the World When I was King made a virtue of the ‘found space’ to stage a Fringe show.
This company has an effortless capacity to evoke a period – in this instance, a film noir feel to the tale of a suicide in a newly opened hotel in 1940s New York. The opening of Kendrick’s Jazz Bar is upstaged when a mysterious young woman jumps to her death. The image is captured by a young, eager reporter who tries to find out who the woman was and we witness the event through his eyes and ears, building the picture we never actually see.
There are detailed performances in this play. It asks big questions about the here and now, placing the audience in a position of curiosity, almost aligning us with the reporter in wishing to know more. As consumers of the media nowadays, we are accustomed to more detail than we actually need to understand the ‘news’. This plot looks at what is known about Frances Dupree, the despondent divorcée of the title, yet somehow never coming near to finding out why she took her own life.
There are a few songs thrown in to the show and some period underscoring. It’s a pity that there isn’t more ambition for the role of music and song as much more could be achieved in that area. Nevertheless, this show went down very well with the audience – packed beneath the chandeliers to enjoy this haunting piece.
Fiona Orr
* HookHitch Theatre Company
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/despondent-divorcee
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.