Amsterdam – Dublin Fringe Festival – Review
by Frank L

AMSTERDAM – Made Up Productions
Co-presented by Dublin Fringe Festival & Glass Mask Theatre
Performances – 12 Sept, 19:30 (preview) (doors 18.30), 13 – 18 Sept, 19:30 (doors 18.30)

Having started out as a ten-minute piece, Rawle expanded it to 30 minutes for the Scene and Heard Festival. This incarnation of the play has been expanded to just under an hour and a half. It is a two-hander, and its theme is that of two good friends, who have known each other a long time, who find themselves together for a weekend in a foreign city. Each of them is beginning to have feelings that are more complex than just being friends.

Rawle has chosen Amsterdam as the location where Himself (David Rawle) and Herself (Alison Kinlan) test the waters. He has spent the last three or four months railing around Europe, while she has been in Dublin doing her mundane job and in her spare time trying to develop her singing career. However, she has more or less given up on that project.

The opening scene is of them meeting in Amsterdam. Their conversation is somewhat stilted, as is emphasised by the speaker making a brief aside to the audience like “did I say that?” It is tricky for both actors to make this work, but they do.

Neither Himself nor Herself has any idea what they want to do in Amsterdam; it is just a place to meet. So we find them doing touristy things such as visiting the Van Gogh Museum. They also make a discovery that the coffee shops of Amsterdam sell products other than coffee. But the main issue is their relationship, which neither of them feels able to bring out into the open.

While both Rawle and Kinlan are highly skilled and indeed funny at skirting around the main issue, it is a challenge to keep up the pretence for the length of time as is required by the text, notwithstanding a brilliantly cringe-making karaoke performance by Rawle. As a result, the play slowly loses impetus. This was underlined by Kinlan having to play, albeit briefly, a new character towards the end.

The set consists of two movable benches, while Himself and Herself have, of course, wheelie bags. It is simplicity itself.  Rawle and Kinlan move the benches, when required, with style. They work extremely well as a duo, and they generate several fun moments with their fine timing.

There are many good things about this production, not least Rawle’s and Kinlan’s skill at doing the asides, which undoubtedly add to the comedy, but the play is too long. Some pruning in the last third would be beneficial, as the central issue of hiding true feelings or not knowing how to articulate them is of universal relevance. Here it is applied to the young, but it is also relevant for the more mature.