one4review | On 08, Aug 2023

Written and performed by acclaimed Fringe regular, Alison Skilbeck, this new one-woman play looks at six very different people during the pandemic, all coping with lockdown in different ways during one year on an unnamed London common.

The play starts with Margo, who is nearing the end of her life, and seems to be easing her way there through cans of G&T and glasses of rosé wine. She loves telling stories about the lives of the people she comes across on the common and lays out items of clothing to remind her of each one. Skilbeck then picks up the items of clothing in turn, and assumes the persona of each one, telling their stories from their own perspectives. The characters range from Tilly, who is suffering from mild dementia, to Mattie, a young boy at the other end of his life being passed around between separated parents. Along the way we meet Fairy Draggle, who is looking to embark on a new career, and an orderly working at a hospice, who has Foreign Accent Syndrome. We start to understand that all of the characters are connected, with their stories cleverly interwoven, and their own ideas for dealing with the repeated periods of lockdown. The play concludes with the appearance of the mysterious seventh character, who watches over them all.

Alison Skilbeck is very convincing, using humour and great characterisation to captivate the audience throughout an hour of first-class fringe theatre. I would recommend catching this show before the entire run sells out.

4.5****

Reviewed by Howard

Assembly Rooms – Front Room

12.40 (1hr 10)

Until 27th August (not 14th)