Review: This Town

'A Town Called Malice' by the Jam soundtracks this hard-bitten but warm-hearted tale of life in a small town in the north of England, setting out writer, poet and performer Rory Aaron’s stall for his one-man show. Dressed in a slick raincoat, he manages to defy the heat in this brickwork basement lock-up venue at Pleasance to tell his audience the story of old school friends Joe and Dean, one a young boxer who stays in the town, the other a kid with just enough aspiration to eventually move out and go to university. 

Aaron’s storytelling style (and this is at least as much a work of storytelling as theatre; he delivers each character’s lines, but his narrative voice remains unchanged) is rich and evocative, using direct language and poetic rhyming couplets which wash over the listener subtly, rather than hitting with the force of rap. He also introduces Liam, Joe’s brother, who suffers from PTSD after a tour of duty in Iraq, and the couple who own the local pub, as the husband begins to sink into dementia. 

Reading further about this piece online reveals that it debuted as a two-hander for a male and female actor at Manchester’s Contact theatre last year. Yet the process of streamlining which has clearly gone on to make it into a compact Fringe show leaves it feeling no less a complete show. There’s still a powerful depth and intensity to the world Aaron creates.