Following a sell-out, award-nominated run at the White Bear Theatre, Keith Stevenson’s comedy Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. has now transferred to Trafalgar Studios.
Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. became a cult hit amongst fans following its six month highly acclaimed run at the Pacific Resident Theatre in Los Angeles in 2012 – audience members returned again and again to watch the show. ‘A Fried Meat Christmas’ and ‘The Unfryable Meatness of Being’ followed, both thrilling audiences. The trilogy was revived in December 2014 and December 2015.
Arty but funny
‘Arty but funny’ was my friend Attie’s description, who came with me. Side note: she’s deaf, and she understood the whole thing, dream of a small theatre where you can still see the mouths of the people talking.
Set in a single room with the implication of a misused bathroom, the whole show seems like it’s almost mocking itself at times but it really is far more meaningful than that. It covers real life stuff without even letting you notice that it’s doing it, which is sneaky but wonderful.
Michael Wade’s Flip freaked me out. I’m not sure he was necessary but by no means did he do a bad job. Melanie Gray’s Marlene made me cringe, and something tells me that was probably the point. If I saw her in the street I’d probably be like, hey, you’re Marlene. That’s how good she was, she honestly didn’t falter. To be fair, they were both perfectly cast and it was arty, in the best sense of the word. Alex Ferns and Robert Moloney completed a wonderful cast.
Keith Stevenson pretty much carries the show with his (spoiler) opinion that his father is in fact Jesus. I feel like someone told him that God was his Father and he took it extremely literally. If you don’t think that’s funny I literally don’t know what you would find funny. He comments;
“It warms my heart that this little story set in Appalachia has received a universal response from people of all colours and creeds in places like London and Los Angeles. They come to the theatre and a little over an hour later they walk out feeling better than they did coming in. They’re buoyed by a fortified hope that goodness and kindness still have a shot.”
Tickets are available from the Trafalgar Studios Box Office, priced at £30, £25, £20. http://www.atgtickets.com
0844 871 7632
Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. is the first ever show to transform Trafalgar Studios 2 into an end-on space. It plays until 3rd June.
Emma Betty is 28 and a nurse in Birmingham Children’s Hospital’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. Emma has the Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Soundtrack (On CD!) to blame for her love for Musical Theatre, which she found in her parents living room pretty much as soon as she was old enough to know what it was. She began combining her love for Theatre, the Internet and Writing while she was still at school, through various blogs and on social media. Having moved to London in 2013, she launched Upper Circle 4 years later. A couple of years on, she is delighted to have a small team and is so grateful to those helping Upper Circle to grow every day!
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