Does the phrase Operation Fork ring any bells with anyone these days? Anyone at all? Probably not, sadly - but Agnes Porkelsdottir Wild's lovely new play Kate shines a light on it in an endearing style.
In 1940, in the midst of World War II, the British Royal Navy and Royal Marines invaded Iceland in a pre-emptive bid to beat Germany to it; deploying up to 25,000 troops to sit alongside the country's relatively modest population of just 125,000.
Kate, playing for the duration of the Fringe at the Pleasance Courtyard, sees two young Icelandic women in particular responding to the influx of soldiers in their homeland. Rianna Dearden's titular character begins a relationship with English gentleman Rob (Alex Dowding), while Olivia Hirst's Selma sinks into a rut of prostitution; earning money for a trip to the USA by selling sex to the likes of the yobbish Bill (Dowding again).
Kate's previous cast (Photo: Thomas Alexander)
The script is funny and the direction (also from Porkelsdottir Wild) is kitted out with nifty ideas that make use of the small, backstageless space of the venue's Bunker Two. The use of a leaf blower to give a quick blast of wind every time a character enters or exits the family home is sure to raise a chuckle, and the frequent acapella choral singing is also highly effective.
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The cast is unanimously strong: Chris Woodley's Benni is the amusingly un-macho antithesis of Dowding's two characters, Anna Nicholson's mother-figure Julia is fabulously frantic and Dearden, at the centre of it all, rightfully earns a hefty share of the laughs with her likeable portrayal of Kate herself.
Dearden gets windy (Photo: Lost Watch/Facebook)
There is, however, still work to be done. Kate has all the makings of a great play but perhaps needs a little more time in development to further flesh out the characters and iron out some of the more far-fetched plot points (one of the relationships formed at the very end of the piece is particularly hard to swallow). But for now, Kate is perfectly suited to its early afternoon timeslot and is a great nugget of new writing to take in before (fingers crossed) it proceeds to its next incarnation elsewhere.
4/5
Kate is playing daily at 13:45 until August 25 (not 12) at 13:45 at the Pleasance Courtyard.
