One of the things I love about the Edinburgh Fringe is getting to see shows that I wouldn't normally go to. Although I've loved the Fringe since I was a teenager watching shows like Edinburgh Nights and Edinburgh or Bust, I've only actually been twice. On both of these occasions I have been working, so my random, go and see anything viewing has been dictated by when I have free time and what I can see with my venue pass. But because of Covid, this year is different. On the downside, I am not currently in a flat opposite a Fringe venue where I can just show up and see whatever I can get into. But on the plus side, I am in the comfort of my own home with a massive digital Fringe programme available for my perusal.
Browsing the Fringe listings, trying to decide what to see, is always excitingly daunting, but not having the constraints of venues and timings this year I've just had to take some stabs in the dark at things that appeal to me from their blurb. And one of the things that caught my eye is Your Perfect Life, written and performed by Erika Marais and Faeron Wheeler from South Africa. A performance from South Africa ticks the box for something I wouldn't necessarily normally get to see and the subject matter appealed to me so I thought I'd give it a go.
Your Perfect Life is inspired by the lives of its writers and performers, "One woman has the family, the other the career. Neither is sure they have what they want." I was drawn to this story as I am at an age where this narrative feels very relevant to me and I've had conversations around this with friends, as well as it overlapping with some research I've been doing for a blog post that I have on the back burner at the moment.
Caitlin (Wheeler) and Karlien (Marais) are high school best friends, brought back together at their 20-year school reunion. Their lives took very different paths with Karlien marrying on leaving school and having three children, while Caitlin is single, childfree, and has a successful career. The interaction that unfolds between them makes for an engaging hour of theatre.
The premise is fascinating and highly relatable. We can all picture what it would be like to see our old classmates after 20 years, who we would love to catch up with, who we'd rather not bump into, and our own insecurities that dictate what we'd love those people to know about us and what we would rather didn't come up in conversation. The awkwardness of once best friends who haven't seen each other in decades being thrown together, their preconceptions of each other's lives, and the opening of old wounds all wind together into a compelling narrative.
There is potential here to go beyond a good story and dive into the pressures that society puts on women and how their success is defined, but the depth and nuance isn't quite reached to leave the watcher pondering these important questions or change perceptions. Although semi-autobiographical, the characters are polar opposites to the extent that it almost feels a little caricatured, particularly when there are moments of dialogue that feel more like the writers trying to get a point across than the characters naturally expressing themselves.
The piece does touch on some important attitudes and subject matters. Caitlin's experiences of awkward interrogations about why she isn't married or doesn't have children ring very true for me personally. Her comments about how at least if she had been divorced people would know how to react to her, as well as her allusion to how childfree doesn't mean responsibility-free, are hugely insightful. But these are just throw-away comments and need further exploration to have a meaningful impact on anyone without those lived experiences. The fact that I cannot pick out those insightful moments from the experiences that Karlien shares proves my point.
An enjoyable production that just lacks that extra depth needed to have a lasting impact.
