By Dave
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdYJpVM3Grg
Available until: Unknown
I can’t say what makes The Helpline a clever monologue because that would give the whole game away. But take it from me, it’s clever.
A man is calling what seems to be some sort of sex line. His wife doesn’t know. He’s even got a new phone so it won’t show up on the phone bill. There’s a girl working there called Roxy and he really likes her a lot. No other girl will do. He’s getting desperate now. It seems almost like an obsession.
Director Charles Douglas has given Emmerdale actor Liam Fox a bit more freedom of movement than is usual in these monologues – there’s a point where Liam actually leaves the room but you can still hear just enough of what’s going on out there. He actually plays down the possibility of Liam’s character getting caught out by his wife because that would completely change the tone of the piece. He keeps the focus more on what the character wants to say and I think that’s probably exactly what writer Jonny Bussell wants. This isn’t a comedy about a man sneaking around or a tragedy about the fall-out. There’s more to it than that.
Liam does a great job with this monologue. The subject matter is the kind of thing that will be hilarious to some people and disgusting to others but I think Liam’s sense of urgency will get most people past that. It’s not funny or disgusting to Liam’s character and that means it’s less likely to be funny or disgusting to his audience. I wouldn’t judge him on that anyway but there’s something in Liam’s performance that really makes you like him despite what he’s doing and he also makes you really interested in what he wants to say.
A really interesting monologue and so much cleverer than
it seems at first.
No comments:
Post a Comment