Show Details
Viv & Fizz
Show type: Edinburgh Fringe 2007

Viv & Fizz


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Description

Viv and Fizz share a flat. And ambition. That's about all. Fizz has her heart set on the West End stage; Viv wants nothing less than the Man Booker prize for fiction. But their approaches are very different. Fizz bounces joyously between parties and press nights, effortlessly picking up contacts and castings; Viv suffers on the sofa, torn between monstrous intellectual arrogance and the paralysing fear of mediocrity.

Is life a struggle? Or is it a breeze? And which do you choose?

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Reviews

Original Review:

Show Rating:Viv & Fizz rated 1/5

Viv and Fizz is a comedy about optimism and pessimism. I found this out by reading the blurb, as it was certainly not clear in the show.

The only optimism involved was mine, the vain hope that at some stage I would be released from the venue and be able to block this hour out of my mind.

Slick costuming and staging kept me awake and, at first, disguised the amateur script and acting. But, ultimately, predictable storylines and gags led to the train wreck that this show is.

Small scenes among the body of the show baffled me. Why did we need to see earlier incarnations of Viv and Fizz as Elizabeth I and Mary, or as a parliamentarian and a royalist the night before battle? I would not have minded it they had had purpose, but like the rest of the show, attempts at humour and sharp ideas were misguided and failed miserably.

Although both actors commanded the stage, this was due to overacting than any subtler skill. The result was that both characters were one-dimensional, with Viv gazing wisftully into the distance a lot and Fizz bouncing up and down like a human pogo stick.

Imitating the Joanna Lumley sneer in a desperate effort to manufacture comedy falls flat without the comic timing or originality to pull it off.

Overall the ideas were ill-thought-out and came across as a collection of scenes with no conclusion and no humour.

Reviewed by: Rosie Carnahan
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Comments

The review posted about this show is possibly the most innaccurate and frankly ignorant piece of pseudo-criticism I have seen of any on the Edinburgh fringe so far, and if you've been reading The Skinny you'll know how serious a statement that is! I feel there would be no point in my writing a specific counter argument, as the aforementioned "review" is little but a rhetorical berating from a person frustrated that they didn't understand a sophisticated piece of theatre. If one has to "read the blurb" to pick out the most basic of metaphorical themes, they should not call themself a critic. In this light, is it any wonder this person didn't get any of the jokes? My advice to all who read this is to go and see this show, just to find out how wrong one person's opinion can be, and you'll be rewarded with an extremely enjoyable, funny and provocative hour.

Robin Colwell, August 2007

I have just read Rosie Carnahan's review of Viv & Fizz and I find it hard to believe she went to the same show. I saw them on Saturday at the Gilded Ballon and it was a really enjoyable, well thought out show, this wasnt just my opinion, the crowd was engaged throughout and really got the historical references that Ms Carnahan failed to understand (really not rocket science). I have been going to 5 shows a day now for a week (exhausting stuff) and Viv and Fizz stands up with the best of them.

Sean Vincent, August 2007

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