Flesh Eating Tiger

Flesh Eating Tiger - Amy Tofte

Flesh Eating Tiger is, at it's core, a love story. Specifically the end of the story. It examines, through free flowing improvisation and a very tightly written script, how each and every relationship has the capacity to implode with the same easy fashion with which it was formed.

But Tiger is more than this. It plays on a stark set, full of torn paper, ladders and other ordinary everyday props that take on new meanings during the journey of this story. And this simple complexity spills over into the production as it emerges that the players themselves are aware of being in the play. Indeed the playwright herself forms a third wheel in this performance, a non-speaking part (for the most), she sits god-like to one side of the stage. Less the omnipotent puppeteer though, as at times she appears to be in fear of her own creations and their unpredictable actions.

Nested loops of plays within plays form and resolve, punched along by a pattern of dialogue that speaks directly to anyone who has suffered the pangs of inadequacy after the break down of a long term relationship.

Sean Breen and Gabriela Trigo-McIntyre, playing multiple parts, attack this script and the improvised passages with a relaxed enthusiasm that has at it's core the beauty of the script to thank. The play feels raw and hungry as though it exists to feed off audience emotion. It gives the impression that each and every performance is a unique event; which is great to see. It is after all the true essence of live theatre.

On the negative side it feels about 8-10 minutes too long, but that could be due to the "cool down" ending, needed to ground the audience back to reality. It's almost as though Amy Tofte feels the need to physically disengage the play from the real world. It's an unsettling process, but experimentation on form and theme is what the Fringe should be about and the playwright must be congratulated for taking the risk.

I'd rate this play as four and half stars. If you enjoy the thrill of watching a play where each performance is a unique event, where the characters appear as real people that you WILL recognise, then this is the play for you. Go and see it at the incredibly cool venue 13. See it as many times as you can.