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Fringe Review
Amsterdam Fringe 2011Life is Too Good to be True
Genre: Drama
Venue: Castrum Peregrini
Low Down
Lies, we are told, have become a necessity of contemporary
society.The truth, we are told, can be dangerous. But what happens
if even ourdreams are made out of a whole pack of lies? Positive
thinking, we aretold, will get us through the rough times and help
us cure our bodies ofdisease. But what happens if we are incapable
of thinking positively?
Everything these days, is seems, is geared up to being
popularised andcommercialised, even on our death beds we are
offered branded objectsin an attempt to hide the truth and rid us
of our pains. So how would ourlives look in reality? Gable
Roelofsen has managed to write and performa script which features
the life of Stephen Glass a journalist whoattempts to live a life
without lies.
Review
With the audience placed in a semicircle, making it easy to see
eachothers faces, we get the feeling of sitting in a group therapy
session,which is the exactly the aim of the first part of the show.
A discussion isstarted by Stephen Glass a young American journalist
on the topicof how lies affect our daily lives, focusing on his own
life, built on thevast amount of fabricated articles he has
written. The quick and
impressive rise in his career is followed by a fast and
aggressive fall.This monologue moves into the topic of positive
thinking, his characterthen transformin into a successful female
scientist. She was once
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8/3/2019 Life is too good to be true
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diagnosed with breast cancer and is the author of many books on
thesubject. This new character tells us about the lies and
fabrication shehad to face during this difficult time, and her
personal crusade toeradicate those lies.
With this cleverly written script, which speaks about a very
commonaspect of our lives the everyday lies the performance manages
todeliver its message effectively to the audience. Although the
stagingisn't very rich in elements, there is the key colour, pink,
used in thedesign, suggesting the perfect happy lives that we want
and that we areconstantly lying about in order to attain. Gable
Roelofsen proves himselfto be a very talented, skilled young actor,
who captured the audiencesattention with his energetic and joyful
acting. This was emphasised inthe smooth flowing change from one
extreme character to another,which he achieves by an unsuspected
change of outfits. He passes
from the casual loose suit of a journalist to the pink curly
hair and somesparkling pink high heels of an eminent and eccentric
scientist!Roelofsen has certainly created an interesting character,
which he didn'tbetray for a second in the whole performance.
Although he stuttersoccasionally over his lines, he still managed
to deliver a clear, logicaland well phrased narrative, making the
whole performance veryentertaining. His message is brought across
perfectly, emphasising justwhat might happen if we all started
telling the truth. Everyone, includingthose people in superior
positions, may spiral into a pathologicalcraziness, where we are
all singing songs by Lady Gaga.
I watched the show with interest and I really felt I was
transferred intothe characters story. His monologues certainly
awoke something withinme and made me think again about how we all
tell lies out of purepoliteness, and how we lie to ourselves every
day in the vain belief thatif we only think positively, we can
accomplish everything we desire. Atthe end of the performance, when
Stephen was singing GagasSpeechless in a sad and exhausted way, he
managed to play, more orless, on some of the sensitive strings of
our souls. And this was evidentin the tears welling up in some of
the eyes around me. By making theaudience laugh, weep and question
itself about the effects of truth andlies on our society, Gable
Roelofsen deserves appreciation and thestanding ovation, as well as
winning his place as one of the best Fringeperformances.
Reviewed by Cristina Rotariu 5 September 2011
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