(5 / 5)

As a book lover, and, despite this, very much being influenced by the “book’s cover” Garry Starr was plastered around all things ed fringe and I knew, I would just need to see what this about. What I actually saw, was way beyond anything I ever expected.

Garry Starr: Classic Penguins is a show that attempts to go through every single penguin book within the time allowed, creating hilarious comedy through quick and basic acting out of the titles, audience engagement and … oh… a whole heap of nakedness. That’s right. As we enter, there’s a aesthetic of a villain’s ice lair, with Starr in a high backed chair and clearly a top hat and tails. But when he swivels around, we see Starr at his full nudeness. The show proceeds in this fashion, with much lewd comedy sought from this, some…ahem… intimate puppetry and zero boundaries in physicality. At some point, you get used to this and suddenly Starr will pull out something out of his hat (metaphorically) that takes us back to the rude comedy basics. I will say, that the nakedness doesn’t really add anything to the performance – there’s no real rhyme or reason, but you can’t be mad because it’s totally absurd and ridiculous and entire chaos. It’s such a mad production, that you actually do not stop laughing, whether specifically prompted or just because you cannot believe what is happening.

The actual “recreation” of the books are very clever. Very to the point and as described, there are bits that are heightened to either gross us out or make us shocked, and others that actually are physically impressive. To ourselves, we start to guess what’s next. Most of the time, the acting begins before we are told the true title and, any book lover, begins to try to get ahead of Starr and what he is recreating.

Starr himself is having a whale of a time – with no qualms of his state of dress or interactions with us, he is laughing and enjoying every moment as much as us. As with any audience interaction, there are curve balls and he relishes this and uses it very much to his advantage to pull more and more laughs from us. In pockets of the production, we actually feel as if we are just Starr’s friends, being as silly and ridiculous as he is, despite being within a large, sold out venue.

Garry Starr: Classic Penguins is an absolutely nuts and nonsensical production, with ranging high to low levels of comedy and concept. It is mania of the best kind and one of the most bizarre but brilliant productions at fringe.

(3 / 5)

If you were expecting a drag act, you are * some what* wrong. KINDER, while all the posters would tell you so, seems as if we are embarking on a drag act, we are in fact embarking on something a lot more.

KINDER is a deep and emotional production based on a drag artist at a time when their plans completely change. Instead of their debut on stage as their drag performance, they are in fact booked for a reading hour at the local library with children. What this triggers is a monologued production, with elements of high quality lip syncing performance, reflecting on a personal childhood and the state of children and families going forward.

The storytelling is deep and personal. We feel privileged to be part of something so sensitive and in a clearly vulnerable place. While the story is told, Stewart is slowly changing into a new outfit, looking through newly moved boxes, finding things that trigger a memory or an opinion. We learn a lot about them and how they came to be, while they also talk out loud their personal opinions and wants for the future. We feel close to Stewart, and they do speak to every one of us in that room. There are occasional moments of comedy, in the way that you find in a conversation, but this isn’t really meant to be that production, or so it would seem.

The lip-syncing moments are fierce and very professional – these injections liven and break up the monologue, much in a way that Shakespeare would use a light relief in one of his serious plays. Stewart easily commands the stage and takes up the space, not allowing your eyes to wander elsewhere. So, when we return to the one sided discussion, they suddenly seem a little lost in the space, and the tidying or searching becomes a little monotonous an action.

KINDER is a bit of a mismatch of a production – it has really strong moments, such as the lip syncing parts or the beginning of the artists vulnerability, but this sadly becomes a bit of the same, losing our attention and wanting something a bit more.

(3 / 5)

As we confront the space, we see three human sized cages in front of us, ready for us to then confront existence with three chickens.

That sentence in itself seems surreal and of course, it means that this production is also surreal. Lights come up and we see three different coloured chickens in front of us in human size, sat in the cages, staring out at us. Over the next hour, these chickens contemplate existence, time, their lives and what’s to come, all while they wait for their randomised fate of the broiler.

Along with the differentiating colours, the personalities of each chicken is different and in some ways giving a sense of the film Chicken Run – we have a hen who is a little wacky, a cockerel who is more matter of fact and another cockerel who is a little more of a higher class. They have been thrown together in unfortunate circumstances, bouncing off one another, creating naturalistic humour in their differences. They do feel like they have been plucked out of the famous film, with similar thoughts, interactions and a desire to escape their fate.

In amongst their interactions, the spotlight is drawn on each of them for a monologue about their life and existence. Their contemplation, while chicken lead, feels philosophical, and does give a feeling of something avant garde and thought provoking. Within these moments and their interactions, there are elements of humour but it is small and subtle, and it’s difficult sometimes to tell if this is meant to be humorous or an attempt at high art. Whatever it is, it is a piece of theatre you’d expect to go to at the fringe, for the eccentricity alone.

3 Chickens Confront Existence is a thought provoking and philosophical and avant garde piece of theatre, well catered for those seeking to discover the unusual at fringe. It however felt a little lost on what it was meant to be, whether serious or a comedy. Either way, it was a well performed and interesting production.

(4 / 5)

Everyone loves a good murder mystery. Popularity of this genre has increased with Hollywood films such as Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club, so it feels fitting that it comes to and is popular at the world of Ed Fringe.

As the title suggests, this production takes all the combos of the quintessential murder mystery, but puts the plot into our hands. Murder mystery meets improv – there are prompts and certain things in place to help, but with the help of the audience, how this actually transpires is completely unplanned. In our scenario, this is the case of the big sausage, set in a p*ss up in a brewery, which already gives us giggles and that typical British humour. There are often little innuendos and suggestions that continue the typical British humour in that wink wink nudge nudge kind of way.

The set itself is resplendent – very well made, featuring on quite a large stage with sold out seats. There’s a great sense of “Cluedo” with the chosen aesthetic and the monochrome colour choices – one character is all in yellow, one in green e.t.c. Our host has a essence of Miss Marple meets Jessica Fletcher, with slightly stereotyped and exaggerated elements in her dress and conduct. She has the power to stop and start and entice certain moments, with a tongue and cheek essence that clearly shows a great relationship and banter culture with her fellow actors by cheekily making things a little harder for them. Moments of corpsing comes from all of them; silly suggestions, recognition of Jessica Marple’s attempts to throw them, the comedy that comes from the minds of their colleagues as they improvise and, in this big space, this lets us warm to them and be part of their group.

Overall, Murder She Didn’t Write is a brilliantly and professionally constructed audience participatory improvisation show. It effortlessly links all the stereotypes of a murder mystery, engaging with us for prompts to continue the comedy and showing a real skill in creating a whodunnit on the spot.