Fringe theatre reviews: Pink Rabbit | Jitters | No Hard Felix | One House on Brick Lane | The Unwilling Accomplice | Last Orders

THEATRE

Pink Rabbit ★★★★★

Daisy at Underbelly, Bristo Square (Venue 302) until 30 August

From the moment Farah Ashraf looks upon the audience as Amna, we know we mean something to her. The next hour sees us as her friends – the ones who listen to her grand plans for freedom and who must not tell her mother about her secret presence on OnlyFans. “Say ‘Wallahi,’” she beckons us, and between giggles, we swear.

Ashraf is a powerhouse as 18-year-old Amna, who, between desperate crushes, obedience to her Pakistani single mother and the expectations of her Muslim upbringing, struggles to live her life authentically. What authenticity means to her, however, is helplessly, poignantly teenaged. She wants to make money, to masturbate, to feel desired, and, achingly, to keep her childhood and culture close.

Amna’s online persona, ‘PersianBaby’, offers a peculiar kind of freedom. Performing race play on OnlyFans, she curates an identity for male desire while trying to work out where performance ends and personhood begins. The contradiction is central to Pink Rabbit: desperate to escape the restrictions placed on her, Amna finds herself navigating another world with its own demands and appetites. The brilliance of Pink Rabbit is the tragedy, and comedy, of seeing Amna pursue what she wants freedom from without yet being able to articulate what she wants freedom for. In this coming-of-age story, she is on the cusp, and we are all rooting for her.

Ashraf resists a familiar liberation trope that Brown women must be more proximate to whiteness to be free. Instead, she sees her mother’s protectiveness as rooted in her own understanding of freedom, while fighting to define it for herself. “I don’t feel like my life is allowed,” she pleads. She wants it all – and why shouldn’t she?

Ashraf moves between characters with remarkable precision. A prolonged argument with her mother towards the end is transfixing as she flicks between the two women with tiny changes in posture, voice and expression, making their emotional history palpable even though she is physically alone onstage. Pink Rabbit is funny, filthy, vulnerable and brought to glorious life by Ashraf, a magnetic performer – one whose next move will be worth watching. Mika Morava

THEATRE

Jitters ★★★★

Summerhall (Venue 26) until 30 August

The church is set, but the going-down-the-aisle music sounds like something from a horror film. It’s a contrast embodied by Charlotte, the bride, who has the traditionalist views and Kate Middleton haircut of many other women getting married – in this instance, to a businessman called Richard – but also has a first class degree in psychology and isn’t afraid to use it.

First stop: El, Richard’s daughter. El sick of the “het bullshit” that seems to enable Charlotte, unlike herself, to prosper – and she also doesn’t want her Dad marrying someone half his age. Can’t Charlotte see, Richard only wants her because she’s young? The problem, or not, is that yes, Charlotte can, and she’s quite happy with the relationship. The only thing standing in her way is El.

Through a comic exchange of striking clarity, illuminated by Ellen Robertson’s delicious dialogue, two educated women from different backgrounds fight for their versions of an (unseen and unheard) man from a generation who “got all the bedrooms” and, in the view of Charlotte at least, is basically a big child trapped by his evolutionary biology – which is also what she loves about him. It’s a view that Gen Z feminist El finds horrifying, but then she might also need her dad to help pay her not-exactly-cheap rent occasionally.

It becomes clear that both women are trapped by an unfair system of wealth and gender inequality, but that Charlotte’s a lot better at navigating it because she accepts it, for better or worse. The skill of the script is that it leaves us to decide whether or not this is a good approach and – if it isn’t, what’s the alternative, when El’s seems to be slowly falling apart. Sally Stott

THEATRE

No Hard Felix ★★★★

Just The Tonic at The Caves (Venue 88) until 17 August

An absolutely crackerjack performance by writer-actor Mark Ryder powers this fast-paced one man comedy about toxic masculinity and erectile dysfunction. Ryder plays Felix, a triple “A” alpha finance bro who’s life unravels after “little Felix” fails to perform one evening. Felix is truly ghastly, a creation of corporate self-improvement courses and the “philosophy” of Jordan Peterson. Spending any time with him should seem insufferable but he is, perversely, oddly endearing. Partially, that’s because, like Iago, he’s always keen to let the audience know what he’s thinking so you’re compelled to root for him against at your will. Largely, however, it’s down to Ryder himself and his marvellously expressive face. Almost cartoonishly handsome, he resembles a cross between a hastily drawn sketch of Ryan Reynolds and a particularly foolish animated dog.

In spite of his worst characteristics, it’s hard not to feel some sympathy for Felix as he becomes so vulnerable early on. It’s easy to believe that his toxic traits are borne of gullibility rather than malice as he begins to see his E.D. as a Trojan Horse that threatens to annihilate his carefully constructed masculinity. He also reveals a surprising openness to his sexuality — after quickly deciding that he must be gay he hops on Grindr ready to open himself to new experiences.

As funny as this frequently is, it’s not a huge reach to compare it to David Mamet’s study of masculinity in crisis, Edmond. Felix is much more affable than Mamet’s downbeat protagonist but Ryder doesn’t flinch from the darker aspects of his identity crisis and there’s a thread of tough, hard reality that underscores Felix’s journey through the Manosphere - no matter how farcical it becomes. Directed with real snap and pace by Rute Costa, it’s a terrific showcase for Ryder whose brilliantly animated performance is a consistent joy. Rory Ford

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THEATRE

One House on Brick Lane ★★★

theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall (Venue 53) until 15 August

With anti-immigration protests and counter-protests now a regular occurrence in Scotland’s towns and cities, One House on Brick Lane is a timely reflection that it was ever thus. Inspired by Paul Trevor’s photos of the Bengali community of Brick Lane rising up against race hatred in the 70s, the play honours the immigration history of one of London’s most multi-cultural areas.

The concept is A House Through Time meets Ghosts, as the spirits of previous residents of 60 Brick Lane - Huguenots, Jews, Windrush arrivals - observe a trio of Bangladeshi siblings responding to the rise of the National Front in the late 70s and 80s. Sister Ariya is a committed activist, elder brother Bilal favours keeping their heads down while the wise young Musa (a confident, convincing Zahid Shohid Ullah) is caught in the middle.

The young ethnically diverse ensemble from Mulberry Theatre Company know their history. You can feel their investment in the subject matter as they punctuate the domestic drama with significant snapshots of the area’s history, from the unionization of the Victorian match girls to the racially motivated killing of factory worker Altab Ali in May 1978, and foster the idea that their identity is built into the bricks even as those around call for them to leave. Fiona Shepherd

THEATRE

The Unwilling Accomplice ★★

Stephenson Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeon’s Hall (53) until 15 August

Living with your sister as an adult would probably grate on most people, not least if she was a serial killer. Pigeon Patter Productions present their comedy debut at the Fringe, the tale of two ethically incompatible sisters.

Emily is driven neurotic by her sister Riley’s unfortunate psychopathy, but just about puts up with coming home to dead bodies in the living room. It is somehow only when Riley’s unseemly hobby starts to get in the way of her new relationship that tensions finally boil over. The outlandish premise is let down by slightly whiny and at times fluffed delivery by the cast as well as a predictable conclusion. Lilia Foster

THEATRE

Last Orders ★

Bedlam Theatre (Venue 49) until 18 August

This misfiring comedy by Elspeth Frith probably seemed like a good idea at the time. Performed with a good deal of misplaced enthusiasm by Edinburgh University Theatre Company, it cheerfully gender flips roles as two American brothers take over the management of a redneck bar of geographically indeterminate location at the behest of their mother. It’s set in the 1980s to allow for some lip syncing to jukebox classics which provide some distraction from the disheartening lack of clientele and the merest suggestion of a plot which never threatens to divert. There’s some half-hearted jabs at outdated sexual politics but they’re disappointingly obvious. Rory Ford

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