All the Fraudulent Horse Girls
Ed Fringe 24
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Ed Fringe 24 -
Brooklyn Rep are smashing it this Ed Fringe with their unhinged, surrealist cult-hit production of All the Fraudulent Horse Girls, by Aussie playwright Michael Louis Kennedy. The mere fact this play isn’t devised by the company came as a shock to me, on account of the singular chaos of both performance and plot, and the perfection of the casting. This is a show only Brooklyn Rep could make.
All the Fraudulent Horse Girls follows the intensely hyperactive, horse-obsessed, eleven year-old Audrey, on her quest to make friends and fit in. Audrey, played initially by Cazeleōn, is practically exploding with excitement as she narrates the story of her life-so-far. She tells us that she has tried and tried to fit in with the cool horse-girls at school to no avail. She tells us she is loved and looked after by her parents, who worry about her school-life. She tells us that she’s begun to speak to every other horse-girl in the whole, wide world through newly-found telepathy skills… And she tells us she
REALLY
LIKES
HORSES.
This play totally throws out the rulebook when it comes to structure. The cast are all multi-instrumentalists, vocalists and actors, with almost every actor getting their shot at playing Audrey in her many forms. Cazeleōn’s Audrey gives us the bed-bouncing set-up (realized with a kitschy set designed by Oli Fuller), where we learn all of the above (and then some).
After this, Audrey is hit with a horse-hoof to the head and the play spins out into a dream sequence. Beth Graham comes in hot from the back of the room, blood-dripping from her head wound, as a wild-west-gunslinging version of Audrey, breathing fresh air into the already choatic world. Graham’s performance is slick and devilish, whisking us into the anger and frustration bubbling beneath Audreys girlish exterior.
Alice Morgan-Richards (or Dairy King, for those in the know) an actor-muso, who we’ve already seen playing many inanimate objects as well as one of Audrey’s cool-girl classmates, is the final incarnation of the eleven year-old protagonist. Morgan-Richards’ role is potentially the most bizarre of the lot, she has to end the show, to wrap up the world of our beloved child weirdo. Nothing could be more camp and ridiculous than the end we receive and nothing could be more perfect than the final note, nay, neigh of the play.
All the Fraudulent Horse Girls has it all: live music, chaotic horse-girl energy, ingenious use of props, and Emma Stone (the horse, not the actor. Idiot).
If you’re looking for something bizarre this fringe, look no further. Queers, weirdos, and honestly anyone looking for a bit of fun will enjoy this allegory for latent queerness/ neurodivergence/ weirdness.
Directed by Charles Quittner, also featuring Meg Narongchai (Emma Stone) and Rachel Blaquière (musical director & cool horse-girl).
All the Fraudulent Horse Girls is on at Pleasance Dome until the 26th August, tickets here.
FOUR STARS
Photo by Georgia Dunn
