An enjoyable and light-hearted way to begin my day of ‘fringing,’ but still ultimately left me wanting more.
An Ode to the Casting Director is an autobiographical one-woman show following aspiring actor Sophie Fisher as she awkwardly muddles her way through rejection. Rejection in her family life, love, and her work. Sophie is humiliated by the acting world until a door-opening phone call – as the show ended – that could have the potential to change the trajectory of her career.
Maybe I’m just a sucker for tear-jerker performances, but I felt that what this lacked in its attempt at more moving scenes could only partially be made-up by Sophie Fisher’s naturally comedic and intentionally awkward characterisation of her role. Teary phone calls with disapproving, ‘real career’ focused parents fell slightly flat. Instead of being overcome by Sophie’s emotions, I felt as if I could not fully connect with the character, due to the fast moving pace of the narrative. Slightly too much was crammed into this production to allow for more emotive scenes to be developed enough to satisfy me.
Unique to a lot of Fringe shows was the use of the TV screen as an onstage prop, along with the simple chaise lounge. The TV screen conveyed the piercing and unforgiving glare of the casting director and was used to distinguish moments of audition. This placed the audience in a position of power to judge Sophie in a similar way to the casting directors. For me, this creative decision gave the performance a heightened level of immersion. In doing so, it helped elevate a stream of short snippets of acting monologues that otherwise could have felt quite similar. And it was done well.
I have no doubt that this would appeal to other aspiring actors. But as an audience member not versed in this cut-throat world, I felt as if this performance lacked a conceptual depth that would have helped me become more emotionally invested in the narrative and less detached from Sophie’s character.
An Ode to the Casting Director is running until 29 August (excluding 13 and 20) in Studio Four at Assembly George Square Studios. Buy tickets here.
