MANikin follows the life of Fraser Patterson, a young, “porky” man from Aberdeenshire who struggles with bullies, girlfriends and his weight. We see him grow from a happy primary school boy, unknowing of the teasing that faces him at high school, to a young man who struggles to navigate his peers leaving him and finding a job.
After the success of Bits and Pieces at last year’s Fringe, I was looking forward to seeing a Saltire Sky production. This team are exciting and one to look out for in Scottish Theatre. Firstly, the avenue staging of MANikin was interesting to me. It involved the audience in Fraser’s constant pacing, physically and mentally, as he goes through trials and tribulations in his life. Leith Arches is a great wee venue, which gave off this trendy, Scottishy vibe which ties in with Saltire Sky as a company.
The script, written by Nathan Scott Dunn, is interesting to me as on the surface it’s a great story but there’s many levels of psychological pain and discomfort. It reflects a lot of stories up and down the country, which lots of people can resonate with. It’s very moving to see this young man who’s different to his peers gain and lose his confidence as he goes through his life. At face value, it’s a story about body image and the damage it causes, but deep down I think it’s a tale of self-worth and sabotage, and how we try to hide our demons so much that we end up destroying things that mean most to us. I like Nathan Scott Dunn’s way of storytelling as Fraser leads us through his life. I think some scenes could be shorter or have a bit more meaningfulness to them, however his writing is always authentic and leaves you feeling very deeply for the character of Fraser.
I can’t wait to see more of Josh Brock (Fraser). He is a fantastic actor and you can see how much he has put into this role. He’s got cheeky chappy charm and is not afraid to run about, half-naked and throw himself around the space. In Fraser’s more tender moments, we see another side to Josh Brock, much softer. He’s clearly in touch with his acting abilities. However, I wanted him to slow down so we could appreciate his performance. Josh is funny and I found some of his hilarity was lost as he moved onto the next line. In particular, his portrayal of Fraser’s mother was absolutely brilliant. He really indulged in the character and took his time to get laughs from the audience. Also, in the moments where Fraser goes through mental turmoil, Josh portrayed this by shaking and shouting. If this was tweaked a bit more to show a build-up of every time he feels this way and how it gets worse each time, this would have had a bigger impact emotionally on the audience. Instead, it felt a little rushed and not as impactful.
This performance needs some fine tuning. MANikin is a great Fringe show and there is so much potential in this show – that’s why I love it. It just needs some tightening up to really pack an even bigger punch. After consideration I’ve rated this show a 3. It’s heart and what it stands for makes it a 4 but there is room for improvement; this is exciting! I can’t wait to see how MANikin progresses and I hope to see it in the future soon.
MANikin is playing at Leith Arches August 11-16, 18-22. You can grab tickets here: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/manikin
Theatre Scotland 
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