Robinson Crusoe: All Washed Up
Robinson Crusoe: All Washed Up
By Fergus Rougier
Green Venue, Orlando International Theater Fringe Festival, Orlando, FL</strong>
We’ve all heard the story of Robinson Crusoe – he washes up on a deserted island with nothing but an accordion, and forges a new life in isolation with little more than his native wit. It’s years before the unfortunate Friday stumbles into his life, and by that point he’s torn between having a friend and servant, and having someone else to leave towels on the dirt floor. I don’t remember the part about the accordion, but it’s no more suspension of disbelief than a blue cloth can create the land and sea and terrain of this mysterious island. Mixing song and motion and storytelling, the angular Mr Rougier provides a pleasant and non challenging hour contemplating on what we are if stripped of the veneer and convenience of civilization and companionship. Is cannibalism OK as long as everyone else does it? Is the ocean more a psychological barrier to happiness than a physical one? And why does every telling of this story focus on Crusoe’s overblown attempt to build a canoe so heavy he can never get it into the ocean? Mysterious and inexplicable, Robinson Crusoe isn’t washed up so much as he’s forced to confront himself. What we see in him we should find in ourselves.
This show is presented as part of the 17th Orlando International Fringe Theater Festival. Information on times, tickets, and venue location my be found at http://OrlandoFringe.org/
