The first day of the Fringe Festival opened at the Nerdy cafe with a series of monologues read by members of Shropshire Youth Theatre. There were on-stage conversations between Romeo and Juliet, Frankenstein and his monster, and funniest of all, between a doctor and a vegetarian piranha (one which started scripted and quickly moved to improv).
The main action then moved to The Hive. Walking between the two venues, I was enveloped in the hustle and bustle of a Saturday morning in Shrewsbury: the smell of baked bread from the market in the square, the faint sound of the Let's Rock festival drifting over from the Quarry, the sway of late-morning dog-walkers and the fossil-seller on Pride Hill. It felt like a perfect day for a fringe festival.
The first performance at the Hive was Juliet & Romeo's William Shakespeare, a hilarious fanfic mashup where Juliet despaired at directing a play, and Macbeth had awkward social interactions with Romeo, while a sullen-faced witch held up the cards to indicate a change of scene. While the other characters uncovered intrigues and deceptions (it turns out Romeo is 18!) the witch watched on ambivalently, munching loudly through a bag of crisps, much to comedic effect.
The second piece, Echoes, a drama about dementia, showcased the power of a simple staging. Three people, a wheelchair, and a cardigan could between them form a story that jumped between times and minds, and portrayed the quiet devastation of living with dementia.
All the Single Ladies was a frank discussion of the family cycle and emotional impact of teenage pregnancy, and the families that form out of several generations of single mums. Yet despite the hard-hitting theme of this drama, comedy seemed to run of the veins of this festival: gossip about an unseen eccentric teacher, and the mum squinting to see small print without glasses both got laughs from the audience.
The day closed with the rip-roaring comedy western Journey to the Centre of New Milton Keynes. It was the perfect closer to a day of brilliant theatre. The excellent acting and impeccable comedic timing had the audience non-stop laughing. From drunken fights and a strange jawbone necklace, to antics with a squeaky carriage doors and a gay romance, the play was heartwarming and hilarious.
The Fringe was a varied and interesting event, with comedy and social issues often standing alongside each other on stage. It was great to see young people in Shrewsbury performing plays they had written from scratch themselves, and exploring the issues that matter to them, and to watch the actors use their skill to turn a room and a few chairs into everything they wanted to show us - with a little imagination on our parts as well. If you want to understand what it is like to be a young person in Shropshire, and have a brilliant time, Shropshire Youth Fringe is the place to be.
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