A pair of musicals from Three Chairs and aHat, Verity and Dexter ran at the Edinburgh Fringe and are now available to view on Scenesaver.
While they should be the perfect love match, their wedding is set to be a disaster – but why? The two play structure, presented live on alternative nights, gives you a chance to hear both sides!
Both bride Verity (Jenna Elliott) and Dexter (Chris Johnstone) appear in each other’s stories, with Dexter being the first in chronological order.
The two sharp and witty shows are written by Nia Williams and buzz with ambition, each featuring a supporting cast who comment on the action and make interventions – surely Sondheim’s Company was something of an influence here?
In Verity, there are a chatty trio of aunts and cousins (Palli Dent, Alice Evans, Hope McNamara) wondering what to do with their relative after her wedding night jilting pushes her into cyberstalking.
There’s a bit of romance between boss and PR (Andrew Moore and Palli Dent), which is charming, and a good supporting bit for Christopher Ventom’s IT nice but nerdish misfit Fred (“there’s nothing more romantic than a computer”).
In Dexter, we feel that Verity does really want “a groom, and not me” as Dexter himself tells her in the other show. But whether either can be read as reliable narrators is up for debate, and within the groom’s narrative the story heads in quite curious durections.
The music is good, if not that memorable, and Marilyn Moore’s Moira Day is amusing yet pleasingly sinister with her business sense and vibrant string of pearls in Dexter.
Weddings mean very different things to different people, and even when it seems to be love’s young dream, it can always implode. The bridezilla’s dream may become the husband’s regret.
It’s best to watch both shows, but it doesn’t matter in which order, or whether you just choose one. Williams’s work could benefit from a bit more development to shape the plot of Dexter in particular, but taken together, they work well.
An interesting experiment that may leave you hanging by the end of one or other of the pieces; Verity brings something a bit nearer to closure if that’s what you’re after.
You can watch both Verity and Dexter now on Scenesaver, where you can register for a free account and make a donation if you enjoy the show(s).
***.5