This Much (or an act of violence towards the institution of marriage) by John Fitzpatrick is currently being performed by Second Mouse Productions as part of the Greater Manchester Fringe Festival.
The show follows the story of Gar (Michael Loftus) who is in a loving relationship with Anthony (Paul Antony) who wants to have children, yet finds himself drawn to the mysterious ways of Albert (John Thacker) who wants him to expose himself in the park.
At times I felt that This Much was a little bit too much. Gar seemed to take his trousers off countless times during the show. It worked well for certain scenes like when Gar and Albert were in the park as the script stated that. However, there was another scene when Gar just whipped his trousers off and sat on the floor to use his laptop. For me it didn’t add anything to that scene, perhaps it was to indicate that Gar felt comfortable around Anthony. However, the more times Gar took off his trousers, the less shocking it became.
Overall the acting was good, I was particularly impressed with Antony who I thought delivered a very naturalistic style throughout. There were some occasions when the acting in general delved a bit too far into over the top mode and could have done with toning down slightly.
This was my first time seeing a play in this venue and I’m not entirely sure it lends itself well to performances. There only seemed to be one light setting that was used throughout the play, when I feel perhaps a dim in light during scene transitions would have helped as there were times when the transitions weren’t as smooth as they could be and music between scenes felt a bit choppy.
I did enjoy the performance of This Much, the story was believable, easy to follow with some very nice moments in it. However, there are just a few small things that could be ironed out to take it to the next level.
Reviewer: Brian Madden
Reviewed: 10th July 2017
North West End Rating: ★★★
