Review: A THEATRICAL LIFE, Siobhan Bremer - Edinburgh Fringe (Online)
Written by Daniel Munson and directed by Judy Myers, A Theatrical Life is a one-woman show about the life of Siobhan Bremer. Spanning over five decades on the stage, describing Bremer’s life as theatrical is kind of an understatement! Including topics of kidnapping, birds on scooters, twin sisters and cancer – it’s all part of it! You’ll never guess which is real life and which is on stage!
Bremer tells the story well, after all, it is her story! The dialogue and partly acted out scenes make it easy to envision how it actually would have been.
Kidnapped by her father as a child, the ensuing rescue, being on stage because her Mother couldn’t afford a babysitter, camping trips with puppets…these are the real-life adventures, not the scripted ones.
The motivation to share intimate details of our lives with complete strangers is what makes us entertainers, Bremer tells us. We are ridiculed and rejected, yet we do it over and over again.
From teaching at times when the acting work simply wasn’t there or there was a need to do something different, but not entirely leaving that world behind, to thoughts of living with breast cancer. We are encouraged to ‘understand the character that is you’, and this is exactly the point that Bremer is trying to make and share with her audience.
This is what life is about, it doesn’t matter what situations and circumstances are thrown at you, and everyone is going to be different. It’s not a competition to see who can deal with the most or the worst scenarios, it’s about understanding yourself and getting through it and coming out the other side.
Heartfelt, thought provoking and dramatically entertaining.
**** Four Stars.
Reviewed by: Rachel Louise Martin
A Theatrical Life is available on Fringe Online.