Camden Fringe Review, Wilder! ★★★½

The housewives of Newport rule over their town via the regulations of the gardening club, its officious leaders singing their strident anthem: “We sow, we grow, we prune with pride” and, perhaps more pertinently for newcomers to the neighbourhood, “if you’re not with us, you’re no good”.

Jess Vince-Moin as leader Phyllis brings a rigid prefect-like air of bossiness to her rule and Kgalalelo Thakadu as Sheryl-Anne and Evie Weldon as Martha circle in her orbit. Every woman in town is expected to join in. This is very much Mean Girls for the middle classes.

Newport newcomer Georgia (Dany Van Brabant) in her expensive house on the hill, however, is not playing along. She is leading a comfortably desirable life – a fact that the well observed set (lovely touches here: blue and white striped Cornishware pottery, a red moka pot, fine lamps and a drinks trolley) helps underline. Domestic finery aside, we come to find out there is a darker side at play, she and husband Gregory (Thomas Billiouw) are not a lovable Jerry and Margo Leadbetter. They are at a crossroads, Gregory is ready to turn away from their darker side and lean into the suburban dream but the icily glamorous Gloria is not so sure.

What ensues is a madcap, deliberately overstated, romp which leans playfully into film cliché where that will make things funnier. Mayhem and murders pile up. Well-chosen music masterfully enhances several of the comic scenes; a slow motion fight scene is a particular highlight. Some complex sound effects such as phone calls with garden club conversations are carefully timed and effective.

The pace is lively and switches fast. At one point, we flick straight from indulgent Bridget Jones style ice cream eating to someone entering covered in blood. This keeps the audience on their toes and adds to the fun. The team of five all have effective comic timing, knowing when to pause and using facial expressions that emphasise the humour in their lines. Evie Weldon as the put-upon Mrs Hoover is a tour-de-force with an elastic face that exaggerates and enhances the humour in every scene.

Thomas Billiouw shows us his versatility. We observe small gestures (the repeated wiping back of his hair) but he also leans well into physical comedy – a scene performed entirely with a mouthful of toothpaste was especially funny.

There are some charms in the script, I especially enjoyed the conversational motif that appeared compulsory in every Newport encounter, no matter how dangerous:
“Lovely weather we’re having lately…”
“… very mild for this time of year”.
It also captured well the passive aggression at the heart of the gardening club. Overall though, for me, the script did not quite match the skill of the physical comedy. Some of the scenes between Gregory and Gloria felt a little overly long in what was otherwise a super-quick tale.

The fight scenes (Becca Watkin) are enormous fun and well-constructed to utilise the small space. They were played for laughs and earnt them. Overall, the blocking is great. Everything is visible and the director Jillian Osborne confidently creates dual scenes that work well and keep the flow of the story going.

The curtain call was charmingly creative, giving each cast member a chance to shine again.

This is effervescent and frothy fun, though I will be taking my next walk to the allotment with a lot more care – those gardening types are scary!

[Thank you to the Wilder! team who provided a gifted ticket for an honest review.]

Check out all our Camden Fringe content here :