WAIT. is presented at Free Fringe by Clocked On Theatre Company.

Photographed from left to right is Sophia Irvine-Fortescue, Liana Mӓkelӓ and Ellie Higgins.

‘WAIT.’ tells the story of a place where conversation flows, laughter erupts and dinner and drinks are served- but dates here have a different order to them. In the ‘Restau- rat’ we meet Natasha and Alex who are on their first date. We also meet the Waiter who has opened the Restau-rat. She is having an existential crisis and has no idea what she wants to do with her life.

‘WAIT.’ is presented by Clocked On Theatre company. This company was formed in 2018 by a group of students from Queen Margaret University. They performed their first production ‘All Out of Time’ at Free Fringe in 2018.

Ellie Higgins, Liana Mӓkelӓ and Sophia Irvine-Fortescue are the three performers in ‘WAIT.’. The production itself is filled with a number of funny moments and lovely interludes of movement. The script was written by company member Liana Mӓkelӓ. It should be noted that the company only met in person to rehearse all together on Wednesday afternoon and they all should be commended on their cohesiveness on stage. They really did work seamlessly together.

Ellie Higgins character of Alex exudes confidence and cockiness. Higgins's comedic timing is great and she knows how to work an audience. She has everyone in fits of giggles when she presents her No Gluten tattoos on her knuckles and when she eats a boiled egg with ketchup. Ellie and Sophia have a few movement sequences together which are exciting to watch. The two work well together and have created a lovely dynamic.

Sophia Irvine-Fortescue's Natasha was feisty and sure of herself, she knows what she wants but you see her relax into herself when she is spending time with Alex. Much like Higgins, Irvine-Fortescue has many comedic moments during the course of the performance, including little inner thought asides she makes to the audience. In breaking the fourth wall, these asides make Natasha’s character more relatable to the audience. Irvine-Fortescue gave a versatile performance, as her character went from possibly falling in love with Alex to being completely disgusted by her after she breaks the news that she may have given Natasha an STI.

Liana Mӓkelӓ portrayed the Waiter of the Restau-rat. Her character was very unsure of what she wanted from her life and was a little bit kooky. Liana’s comedic timing was glorious and her one-liners were so hilarious. One of my favourite moments was when she was acting as a therapist to Natasha’s character and asking her what she could see in the paper plate of ketchup she had drawn a picture in. Mӓkelӓ took on many different personas in this piece and I was engaged in each one and was excited to see what persona she would adopt next.

Movement was huge part of this performance and it was very well done and innovative. I particularly liked the sequence with the Alex and Natasha putting down the cutlery on the table. I saw this show in the Legends Upstairs space and the stage was very small. Sometimes the fluidity of the movement was hindered by the lack of space the performers had to play with. The company did well to adapt to the space that they did have and I believe a bigger venue would be a benefit to them.

Overall ‘WAIT.’ was a totally original concept; it was full of laughs and some wonderful movement. Clocked On theatre company is definitely doing some great work and I look forward to seeing what’s next on the menu for them.