28 April 2009

Little Girl Lost In The Devil's Black Beard - Now showing - A review

| johnboy
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[First filed: April 25, 2009 @ 10:36]

It’s always a good business when you can sell something twice.

With a big crowd flocking to Gorman House’s C-Block Theatre last night Mr. Fibby had the luxury of selling tickets to the night, and then, once the crowd was seated, selling those of the no-shows to the eager punters who had turned up without tickets.

But if you’re not already numbered amongst the converted I can feel your confusion, and I can hear you ask… “What the hell is Mr. Fibby?”

And the answer is I don’t know either. In many ways they’re a theatre troupe who like to pretend they’re a band. But in other way’s they’re a band who like to act like a theatre troupe. Only they don’t sing.

Some might argue that they’re a vehicle by which Adam Hadley can chew scenery to wild acclaim. But that sells short the musicianship of the band and their ability to create the emotional stage for Hadley to stride across.

They’re not experimental theatre as much as a return to something much, much older.

Or to answer the original question more simply: Mr. Fibby are something you need to check out.

The new show “Little Girl Lost in the Devil’s Black Beard” has more elaborate staging, and a bigger role for the band than previous outings.

The funky detritus littering the stage often turns out to be props rather than just scenery as the show progresses.

While there is an over-arching story (and a deeply serious one at that) the performance is marked out by a series of vignettes which at first glance appear to be only loosely related, but they are extremely entertaining.

This cleverly creates replay value. I got the big themes, but I know I missed a lot first time through.

So check out the slideshow below (Mr. Fibby very kindly allowed me to bring my camera into the theatre). And then get along to see it.

In this season there are shows tonight and tomorrow night at C-Block theatre, Gorman House, Braddon. To avoid disappointment you can get tickets from The Front in Lyneham.

UPDATED: This just in from Mr. Fibby:

    Hello wonderful and attractive Mr Fibby accosiates who are wonderful and attractive!

    Little Girl Lost In The Devil’s Black Beard has been such an amazing success we have added an extra show for everyone that has missed out!

    Tonight (Sunday) has all sold out, so we will be doing a matinee tomorrow!

    Little Girl Lost In the Devil’s Black Beard
    MONDAY APRIL 27 AT 2PM
    C BLOCK THEATRE
    GORMAN HOUSE

    THERE WILL BE NO PRE SOLD TICKETS OR BOOKINGS TAKEN

    ALL TICKETS ARE ON THE DOOR!

    What a pleasant (by which I mean unpleasant) way to spend your public holiday!

    One love
    Fibbyibbyjibby

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this was indeed a magical show. i’d only seen short stories performed by mr fibby before and really had no idea what to expect for the full show, thinking that it would be a mix of short stories again. The entire audience was mesmerised for the full show. Hadley was manically brilliant. The instrumentalists and he worked beautifully together.

How much do the tickets cost, Mr Fibby?

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