La (The Feminine Definite Article) is a fun show about relationships and feminism that just doesn’t quite hit the mark.
Set mostly in a share house, the play focuses on three very different girls all struggling with their relationships (or lack of relationships) with men – Andie, (Amira Kingham) the virgin who is more interested in playing Minecraft than losing her virginity to a guy she meets in a club, Kate (Cat Morvell), the hipster with a boyfriend who is more of a feminist than she is, and Liv (Sofia Monkiewicz), the so-called sex expert who cannot get over a two week relationship. While the play, written and directed by Kingham, is quite entertaining, the characters are clearly exaggerated for comic effect and sometimes it is hard to feel any real connection to the characters.
The whole show had a real ‘student theatre’ vibe about it that, while not a bad thing as Fringe – like student theatre – is the place to experiment with new work, led to what was essentially a funny but fairly shallow production. Sound issues also marred the show this particular night, however the audience wouldn’t have been aware of this if the technical operator hadn’t announced it to everyone.
With some script tightening (the show ran for just a bit too long), this show definitely has the potential to be a much more interesting and engaging show. Hopefully Kingham will keep working on bringing this show to a new level as there really is an interesting story in there.
BY MYF CLARK
