Overlooked
Written and performed by Lizzy Mace
Pink Fringe @ Marlborough Theatre, Prince’s Street, Brighton
Monday, May 6
Have you ever felt undervalued? Ignored? Overlooked?
Every now and again you come across a performer whose endearing modesty is as charming as her talent. Lizzy Mace’s sharp unremitting take is on the kind of folk who slide on by, desperately trying to be unnoticed without the usual kind of glam & bang to grab attention. Maces characters are a collection of these types, she grabs them and puts them in a spotlight allowing them a moment of our time to rant, grow, glow or just squirm, and then holds a mirror up to our reactions. She’s sharp and mean but you could watch her and not know that till it’s too late. In a festival full of cant, puff and self-promotion this subtle, delicate yet robust cute collection of contradiction enchanted me last night at the Marlborough as part of the Pink Fringe.
Overlooked is part of the Marlborough Prink Fringe, for more info on the excellent Pink Fringe see the website here:
Mace does characters well and managed with the slightest of props to transform convincingly. Displaying a wonderful range of amusing accents and some tragically observed characters, whose awkwardness is never in question although their dignity, delusion and pride often are. This isn’t laughing at the sad or small, it’s laughing at our own self-importance, swift judgmental attitudes and common neediness. While sharing a mutual moment of shy, wide eyed hope at some kind of connection with each other, this is a charming show.
Mace does some cool deconstruction of humour too, written into one of her funnier piece with the ‘Fourth Pig’ from the Big Bad Wolf tale, and some cringingly honest pleas of the ‘Girl in the Coat check queue’. She does angry and mad very well and her vengefully psychotic sock puppet TV presenter was wonderful. She’s got good range and an engaging stage presence, although we only ever get to glimpse the real Lizzy on moments of meta reflection.
Mace’s warm and engaging characters manage to carry this show across some of the more tumbleweed moments but then I suspect that Mace has built these in as slightly awkward moments of silence to allow the real delight of the quiet, overlooked moments to shine, and even if she hadn’t I’m willing to cut her a bit of slack as she made me laugh out loud many times with her superb surreal and slightly sad observations on a whole host of real and fictionally real characters.
Charming, understated and funny, Mace sneaks up on us unawares and moves us from pity to hilarity in one swift ruthlessly observed remark. Don’t underestimate this overlooked show. You go Lizzy! But just go quietly and without too much fuss, as you do, but push it a little further into the dark side too Poppet.
For more information on Lizzy or to check out her next dates, CLICK HERE:
For more information on the Pink Fringe and shows due up at the Marlborough Theatre, CLICK HERE:
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