Scriptless puts one actor into a company without having read the script at the Camden Fringe 2024 at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre
“There’s definitely something going on”
Scriptless imagines a rather curious thing and then brings it to life. What if one of a company of actors hasn’t read the script but the curtain is about to rise? Using the conceit of an amateur theatre group putting on the play ‘The Engagement’ and having picked up Emilia off the street to replace their errant leading man who has disappeared with 20 minutes to go, the show gets to go on with The Scriptless.
Written and directed by Kieran Jordan, the play follows seven friends who have gathered to celebrate the engagement of two of their number. The potential of the format quickly ignites as The Scriptless is thrown in at the deep end by being identified as one of the engaged but having to work out which character to whom they’re engaged to with not even their name to help. It is initially very amusing.
As the show progresses though, something of a tension does emerge. The presence of a character constantly guessing at things works when they’re allowed to improv, often surreally, but since this isn’t an improv show, more often than not, they’re just corrected by someone else following the script. The result there is thus less funny than slightly awkward, the comic energy not really having the room to flow.
