What if the meek did inherit the Earth?

March of the Meeklings: an apocalyptic romp could be described as a devised excuse for a group of intelligent and talented young actors and musicians to do a lot of wacky performing. In so-doing they seem to say that if the non-assertive and socially challenged did band together to wreak revenge on those who had humiliated or otherwise abused them earlier in life, they’d be too inept to be anything other than destructive.

It could be turned into a video game. And maybe (I write this as yet another campus shooting headlines the international news) it goes some way towards explaining why so many ‘quiet, bit-of-a-loner’ types flip out – especially in the USA, where guns are so easily obtained – and randomly massacre innocents.

Except here the weapons of choice are three plastic teaspoons. Even so, the blue planet does end up in a blender, a.k.a. the external hard drive to the World. And the Meeklings have no idea what to do next. Absurdist satire? No doubt. But exactly who or what it is sending up … Your guess is as good as mine. Here’s how it unfolds:

A folksy little song about the apocalypse is followed by a monastic ritual – Ed Watson as the senior monk -that culminates in a promised reading from a big book of wisdom (Harry Potter), suddenly subverted by a visitation from the black-cowled Angel of the Apocalypse in striped stockings and pink stiletto heels. It is she, incarnated as a sort of radio aunty called Renee (Alex Lodge), who is the keeper of the plastic spoons.

Encouraged by Renee to talk about their miserable existences, three ‘children in her radio audience reveal – through re-enactments – the experiences that will motivate their collective vengeance. Gary (Thom McGrath), the lisping librarian fixated on Phil Collins, is ignominiously sacked by Marion Public (Charlotte Bradley). Geoff (Shane Boulton), at the mercy of slack fast food counter staff Trace (Brigit Costello) and Yoko (Bradley), mentions he’s rather hungry, gets mistaken for a religious celebrity – you have to be there – and is inundated by needy supplicants. Slim and active computer gamester Warren (Costello) needs tech support and is assumed, by a Scottish Help Desk Operator (Bradley), to be a fat 12 year-old porn addict. It’s all so unfair!

And so the march proceeds to the office of President of the World (Ed Watson) whose inspirational story about The Little Blue Doggie fails to impress the Meeklings. Now it is Renee’s turn to reveal her formative moment of humiliation, at school, involving her mihi as a new girl and an attempt to sing Run Rabbit, whereby her problems with pronunciation spur her on to presidential assassination …

A quartet of multi-skilled musicians blend the mythic and the madcap to give the hour-long show a rich sonic background.

Classic Fringe fare.
 

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