The Argus: fringe_2011_logo_red_thumbAt first sight, Hive Corner, with its chintz and china, appears to be the perfect little getaway. Far from an escape however, at breakfast guests become unwilling captives of this lonely landlady’s running monologue, which reveals a vengeful and bitter gossip behind her charming-olddear persona.

Regrettably, both Carol and her life stories lack credibility and fail to draw us in to her little world at Upper Crevice – even half an hour is too long really to care what she has to say.

Every element of the production needs a tweak. For a start, Carol is obviously her relatively young maker dressed up and putting on a false voice. Her costume of flowered apron, sensible wig, large-rimmed specs and yellow shoes fails to conjure a convincing character getting on in years – Carol’s late husband Philip was surely not the grey, retired civil servant lookalike in the photo prop. Anyway, he fails to come alive despite repeated anecdotal reference to him.

While Katharine Markwick, who wrote and performed the play, no doubt has comic potential, unfortunately in this show she does not reach it. She may be trying too hard to mimic her creative models and is yet to find her own voice.