What I liked
This is a deceptively entertaining show – very entertaining, in fact. It sneaks up on you because of the low-key nature of the comedy and the character work by Dave Simpson and Gary Creamons, both lonely guys who meet by the oddest of circumstances. We’re not used to low-key in Fringe, in which most of the shows are frantically working to make sure every moment is punched up to the extreme. But that’s what’s so refreshing about the work of Dave and Gary – they give the characters time to establish their separate realities,and then let them work out their destinies in regard to each other in a way that is all the more persuasive for not being rushed or manipulated, but comes across as deeply human.
What I didn't like
The transition to the ending needs to be strengthened – right now the ending seems too abrupt and almost cursory.
My overall impression
There is something wonderful about two middle-aged white men in a room enacting a play which doesn’t try to be like anything else, which doesn’t strain for topicality, but is content to tell a quietly funny story – and it is very funny – in which two men’s lives are deeply changed in unexpected ways. Hurrah for The New Canula, which has the courage to be and do exactly what it sets out to.
