10:30 on a Monday may not seem like breakfast time, but it is during the Fringe. You can easily miss out on enjoying a full English breakfast or even a nice cappuccino before heading out to see the Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show, because, well, you will probably sleep in. White Room Theatre comes to the rescue though with strawberries, croissants, and a selection of teas and coffee for each member of their audience. Upbeat music plays as you file into the Queen Dome at the Pleasance with plates and warm paper cups in hand. Needless to say, the thrill is real. The lovely cast and crew greet you at the door, making jokes with genuine smiles. It’s a good way to make you feel welcomed.
Since first reaching shore at the Fringe in 2006, White Room Theatre have produced more than 210 short plays on the festival stage. They put on multiple ten-minute “bite-size” comedies and dramas in a show, all with different conflicts and themes. This Fringe, they created three menus, each made up of five plays.
Desk Fort, the first play this morning, is a comedic critique of the absurdity of middle-management corporate positions, which often drain the person of their individuality and make them into a robotic pawn. The overwhelmed employee simply refuses to do his unrewarding job and hides under the safety of his desk fort, slowly luring in his co-workers.
Another comedy, Never Give Up, followed. Here, a playwright wannabe annoys a contest director with his hundreds of unimaginative plays. What else is there to do but give him an award just to get him off the director’s back?
The third play, Green Dot Day, may well be the best. The cast brilliantly portrays a couple’s attempts at pregnancy, capturing the obsession and fear that comes with it.
Retirement Position is about a retired lifeguard not taking well to his new lifestyle. Feeling obsolete, day-by-day he sits out on an empty beach watching the waves crash the shore and telling himself somebody might need him there. Finally, a woman he rescued last year comes to rescue him from a life of loneliness.
Sad 2am Sex Fantasy is the last play of the morning. In it, the little people living in a man’s head try to direct and act out the perfect sex fantasy to get him off without making him feel disgusted. After many failed attempts, they finally find an imaginative space sex fantasy that successfully gets his blood pumping.
The White Room Theatre cast certainly create the perfect show for a wonderful morning. They feed you with food and subtle commentary. What else might one ask for?
Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show
Pleasance Dome – QueenDome (Venue 23)
Run Ended
Image: Cheryl via Flickr