Cans of Carling, Noël Coward, and Scottish Independence – Asides from the Elbow Preview for Edinburgh Fringe

Buzzing off some pre-production pints at RP during the monumental Lionesses’ Euro Final, but on Sunday at precisely 7:31pm I found myself in Packhorse, for Leeds’ Open Theatre’s preview of Asides from The Elbow. With one minute twenty-nine seconds left to play in extra time of a monumental match, and a new era of national sport rushing in, the energy was fantastic. We had all sped to the Packhorse, excited to extend our evening of celebration, with a healthy dose of new Leeds student theatre.

The Packhorse setup provided a minimal set design with a singular bench, a few Carling cans, (I hope Edinburgh approve the product placement), and a what appeared to be a Samuel Beckett-homaged bin. They lent the play a pared back feel, in line with student budgeting of course. 

Throughout the show were peppered varying generational idiosyncratic comical references and buzz words we’ve all been acquainted to over the last few years. I got to speak to Rebecca, the director and writer, afterwards over coffee at Hyde Park Book Club; I was keen for her to explicate her comic and theatrical influences. You can read my full interview with Rebecca for The Gryphon here.

Rebecca Harrison: The writing of a joke you see for late night shows for SNL monologues or like, roasts, I’m not good with that format. It’s knowing how to do physical comedy and how to do callbacks where you’re building a relationship with the audience. It’s kind of like a subtle breaking of the fourth wall – you’re acknowledging that they know something. That they’re a part of the world.

Owen: Very interesting, yes, like they’re a part of the diegesis. What would you say are your main comic or theatrical influences?

RH: Oh, I fucking love Noel Coward. We actually went to see Present Laughter together a couple years ago. 

O: Fantastic production.

RH: So fucking good. I’ve read a lot of his plays recently, but that’s still the best one from him I’ve read. 

Actors, theatre students, and England fans alike flooded the Packhorse’s snug space aside from the stage. Asides from the Elbow began with a Pink Floyd-shirted, edgy-Leeds inflected Chris, played by Matty Edgar, (who also happens to be a Leeds based DJ)! The central plot is Chris, who moved to Bristol, is returning to The Elbow, a local spot favoured among the twenty-somethings in the play’s narrative. From there, grander themes of love, betrayal and loss become apparent.

Matty’s performance steeped in a clearly grungy stance is done particularly well; the proportion of slouch to hunch is perfect. The softboi character comparisons are noticeable from the get-go. 

Perry, portrayed brilliantly by Carrie Clarke, was fantastic at her enunciating awkward encounters, vis-à-vis the comic timing of her lines. Here, the middle-class humour that I’m sure will shine at Edinburgh, elbowed and pushed its way through; the delivery of lines from ‘gno[cchi]’ to ‘cows’ was very impressive. The crowd were treated to laughs galore, clearly one of the main treasures in Asides’ chest. Indeed, her character brought the zany Gen-Z humour that Harrison wished to project, especially thanks to the podcast bit – without giving too much away.

Carrie’s chemistry with Lucy Yellow’s Joy indeed meshed joyously, their shared solo scene united them brilliantly in a resonant coming of age moment. Lucy performs conscientiously in her ruminative role alongside her exuberant fictional best friend, never becoming engulfed and poignantly offering her solid advice. This is one for the ages.

Sam, portrayed by Charlie Crozier, (whose masters and/or academia diss felt particularly touching given his impending Leeds English Literature masters), was great as the open-buttoned brother to Matty’s Chris. Sam takes on the mainstream while he himself being incredibly astute. Delivering ‘apogees’ and ‘pinnacles’ with subtle panache in his own understated way, Charlie opens up a newer, more grounded point of reference away from the drama. His progression was my favourite aspect and something I am keen for Charlie to exhibit again in future productions. I spoke to him at my house following Asides‘ two previews:

Charlie Crozier: When you get round to doing it [performing] at the actual shows, that’s what brings out the most interesting part of the characters. That, for me, is the funniest and most real part of the play. Those pauses, those moments where people are just existing on stage. As good as the back and forth very Pinteresque dialogue might be, those visual moments where you can take a step back and a deep breath, they’re great.

Sam’s repetitious rebuke to a disembodied homeless person (“you’ve already done us”) was a simple, yet effective way of exemplifying his pragmatic outlook through dialogue. Furthermore, Charlie handled his dramatic beats in lone scene with Matty well, not allowing his character to seep away from the limelight.

Touching on lighting, the two-set blue and orange light of the improvised smoking area of Packhorse was fine, but I can’t wait to see how they get to amplify their smoking area on stage in Scotland. This levelling-up of the blocking and staging will be enhanced on Open Theatre’s European international tour, a point that Rebecca was keen to authenticate. 

O: Charlie previously told me you’ll have a thrust setup for the stage. In line with this, are there any adjustments you foresee making in advance of Edinburgh? 

RH: Oh yeah, we’re going to have to re-block everything! We had booked Packhorse and Hyde Park Book Club, and those you can only exit from stage left – in the wings of the pub. But for the actual thing [Edinburgh], we’re not sure yet… we have a diagram of the stage, but it’s hard to tell where the actual exits are. So, we will have to get there and in our uni accommodation flat thing, re-block everything, in the living room and kitchenette. 

O: That sounds good, you don’t want to end up with a Liz Truss inspired moment on stage where you can’t find the exit.

RH: Oh no. Definitely not.

In my discussion with Charlie, we spoke about a similar thing – his thoughts on scaling up to Scotland, and what it meant for the cast: 

CC: We got to know that we’re catering to a completely different demographic in Edinburgh as well. It’s not Leeds. The students have responded well so far to it, but we’ve got a lot of people all over the world to come see us in Scotland. Having ten shows means we’ll get all sorts of different tweaks, whether that’s in the moment in the play or elsewhere, but as we go we’ll get more confident with how we do it. I wouldn’t be surprised if the final show in Edinburgh is completely different to the previews we’ve done in Leeds. 

The second half of the fifty minutes indeed felt perhaps less quippy and fast as the first half. Likely the excitability of the crowd and the prospect of Edinburgh looming might be easily attributable. Equally, the Lionesses’ projected victory had all but materialised… so who could properly tell. Both, (I learned), were treated to a raucous standing ovation, fully deserved.

As Rebecca and Charlie agreed, numerous poised steps for Edinburgh will take place, inducing relentless rehearsals in their Airbnb accommodation in Edinburgh. Minute details, from intonation to stresses, will be fine-tuned and tweaked. One significant (and yet unmentionable – due to spoilers), plot point will likely benefit greatly from its Scottish scale-up. I just hope that they get ample space, and independence, to do what they want.

Asides from the Elbow is a fresh piece of burgeoning student theatre; it is showing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from 5^th to the 14^th August at theSpace on North Bridge – Perth Theatre. You can get tickets and find further info on Asides here.

Featured Image Credit: Dacia Atputharajah