I had to cover this Free Fringe show the year before last. In the end, it was published by Fest in massively abridged form as part of a sort of 'review round up section'. A shame since it was good and could have used the publicity. There's a sort of prejudice against free shows during the Fringe, I think. Everyone agrees with the concept but audiences can be quite sniffy about going along to see them. As a reviewer, it can be a bit frustrating having to cover them rather than the stuff that you want to see but can't afford. Often you end up enjoying stuff that you'd otherwise have missed out on which is great but there are some real stinkers out there. The worst was Laura Levites' How Did I Get Here? which was on in a Broughton Street venue that I used for shelter. It enraged me so much that for a while I was seriously considering staging my own 'one woman show' in which I just recalled her routine as best I could, reciting it in a sarcastic tone while dressed in grotesque drag. The idea fell through when I found myself in a legal wrangle with the team behind the Polish poster for the film Tootsie.
Anyway, here's the review:
True to her status as the first ever openly gay Miss America contestant, issues of sexual identity and national politics play a large part in Scout Durwood's Edinburgh debut. The show, which she describes as a one woman musical though is more akin to a multiple-personality monologue, is set entirely within a New York City house of domination on the night of the last presidential election.
The piece's title derives from its opening scene, as an employee deals with prospective clients over the phone, vetting and attempting to accommodate their sexual preferences. The workers find that business is slow on this particular night and are left to interact with each other in their predominantly female environment. Through their conversations, they reveal their conflicting political orientations, back stories, present circumstances and fears for the future. The title, it turns out, really pertains to the compromises that the girls have to make in order to get by in life, perhaps to the detriment of their emotional well being.
Hi, How Can I Help You? is truly engrossing theatre, Durwood's manic efforts to embody her various roles betraying her versatility and fearlessness as a performer. She sings beautifully over looped vocals and kazoo and unexpectedly segues into unaccompanied country music laments. At one point she hula-hoops while roller blading, refusing to acknowledge the limitations of her confined stage space.
Though the show is extremely well-written, and moving in its ability to convey the sense of optimism felt by many during Obama's presidential campaign, it is too incoherent as a whole, ultimately acting as a showcase for Durwood's enviable skills rather than a fully-formed finished product.
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