Play on Words

In Play on Words, staged in an obscure room seemingly formed only of black sheets suspended from the ceiling, three actors pun their way through over an hour of entertaining and surprisingly powerful theatre.

As could be expected, the script is jammed full of witticisms, with conversations spilling over with double entendres and misunderstandings that have the audience erupting with laughter from the start. This is accompanied with some great physical comedy.

As the play unfurls, the mirth turns to effectively evoked pathos as the layer of wordplay is peeled off to reveal a darker story line. The actors handle the more serious material with confidence, pushing the audience to the limits of head-scratching bewilderment but never so far that the action onstage becomes incomprehensible.

On another level, Play on Words is a deconstruction of the idea of a play itself, breaking the most basic of theatrical norms by blurring the divide between performers and spectators. The audience, with a mix of intimacy and awkwardness, is drawn into the action on stage by a number of innovative touches including, without a doubt, the most vocal lighting technician at the Fringe.

By the time it reaches its conclusion, the piece has come full circle and any puzzling loose ends are neatly wrapped up, just like the audience’s attention in this novel production.