Low Down

 With a rhythm and rhyme established through the poetic structure he uses, Richard Fry has written and produced a powerful and brave account of one man's life and the alcohol- fueled violence which haunts it. Domestic abuse and violence marks out his path all the way from childhood into adulthood, where the same cycle repeats this time in gay relationships. A story of bullies, bigots and bad boyfriends.

Review

 It sounds grim, it is grim, but it is made by a bravura performance from Fry, who has a lightness of touch which belies the subject matter. A late recruit to the profession, Richard Fry is emerging as a very substantial performer indeed. He has written this in verse, which gives it a strong rhythm. He is a storyteller, with a harrowing story to tell.

A bare stage, a single chair and a solo performance leave him nowhere to hide. The subject matter is tough and uncompromising, leaving no room for sentimentality. But it is to the great credit of Fry that he held the audience absolutely focussed throughout the piece, and the extended applause  showed the appreciation of his penmanship, and his stagecraft. 

His piece addresses issues around abuse and domestic violence. It poses questions about cycles of violence across generations, the  waste of brutalised lives it leaves in its wake. It  addresses personal violence and abuse in gay relationships, and shows the parallels with more traditional accounts of heterosexual abuse.

Richard Fry has given voice to those normally only talked about. It is a voice which needs and deserves to be heard. 

Reviewed by mike fitzgerald 05/05/0

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