Brick Walls Reviews

At the Edinburgh Fringe 2006, 'Brick Walls' was met with unanimously fantastic reviews. Here are some selections:

Scotsman (Zoe Green) **** 'Pick of the Week'
Although this is the first show they've written and performed together, Dan Mansell and Thomas Eccleshare could be destined to become one of those legendary comic duos. Mansell and Eccleshare have faces designed for comedy: a flicker of Eccleshare's eyebrow and the audience is reduced to helpless laughter. A mixture of artful dialogue, impeccable choreography and exquisite comic timing make it a pleasure to spend an hour with these guys. The script is a thing of beauty, vacillating between fantastical dream images and surreal, Pinteresque dialogue...The silences are as powerful and eloquent as the dialogue - full of movement, mime and clowning. So impeccable is their choreography that they can do joint routines with buckets over their heads. For two actors who haven't been to drama school (yet), the show is incredibly professional. Tom and Dan have only just graduated from Cambridge: let's hope they forget the milk round and collaborate with each other instead.

Broadwaybaby.com (Pete Shaw) ****
Mansell and Eccleshare together give a perfectly synchronised performance, flowing between powerful drama and physical theatre with the fluidity of mercury...With clever writing and strong performances, this makes for a definitive Fringe show.

Writers Guild (Eiriona Jackson)
The exchanges between the characters are witty, carefully constructed and illuminate the writers’ ability to demark differences in character with enough subtlety to avoid presenting them as polarised archetypes...This piece is engaging, well structured and displays signs of genuine originality.

Edinburgh Evening News (Simon Neville)
Slightly bizarre, and the acting was fantastic and I left feeling content.

ThreeWeeks ****
Possibly one of the most wonderful descents into madness in a confined space ever.

Compelling bouts of silence and slapstick paranoia lead the two into their own stories, and before long the tiny space is jam packed with fictitious characters. Beautifully inspiring the audience’s imagination, the duo’s madness escalates until their delusions become as real to the watchers as they are to the trapped comrades. Both clever and engrossing, it makes incarceration look like a whole world of fun.

The Stage
Funny and poignant.

Festival Radio ****
Innovative and imaginative.