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| [Source-Ed Fringe Site] |
Dressed entirely in red and black (to match the set), there was a troupe of 6 performers-4 men and 2 women-plus an evil overlord narrator type who was playing the role of "script writer". When the show began, it was only the script writer on the stage, "on the phone" to his producer who was demanding another new musical from him. He cast out to the audience for suggestions of places where the musical could be set as well as ideas for musical styles/song writers for the cast to emulate. And thus "In The Jungle, The Flighty Jungle" was born-a musical set in a random jungle where a Concord flight had just crash landed, with song styles taken from 'Into the Woods', 'Abba', 'Tim Minchin' (suggestion courtesy of my other half, who was very pleased with himself), 'Cabaret' and a random musical no-one had heard of that was described as 'Latin, Hip-Hop, Pop, RnB and Rap'-y'know, because improving a musical from scratch isn't hard enough already.
And somehow, it worked. The cast were full of energy and were coming up with some very amusing stuff, as well as some fabulous songs-songs in full harmony, with dance routines, all from the top of their heads. It was pretty incredible to watch and I have no idea how something like this is actually possible, but clearly it is!
The story did get a little convoluted along the way, and was nudged in certain directions by the 'script writer' from time to time whenever he felt like he wanted to explore a certain theme more. It was really good fun-funny and fast paced and pretty damn amazing-they even managed to create songs in each of the musical styles set by the audience which was hilarious! (Especially the latin-hip-hop-pop-rnb-rap song!). Highlights for me personally were the terrible Australian accents (as girlfriend of an Aussie this is pretty damn amusing to me) and the fact that I came out singing the finale song at the end-a song that had previously not existed. I can still remember a couple of them now-which I think is a sign that the Showstoppers are doing their jobs properly. It was an hour and a half of madness and chaos and wonder and fabulous songs and great laughs. I for one am very glad I went!
Day 2
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| [Source- Ed Fringe Site] |
This was a show that I had only heard of because a friend of mine directed and is starring in it-and it isn't something I would have probably chosen to see otherwise. However I'm really glad I did because although I cannot claim to fully understand it, I really enjoyed myself. Don't let the frankly disturbing promotional picture put you off-it was very well written, acted and put together. It's the story of a girl whose feet have lives of their own-and they're taking over her life to weird and almost disastrous ends. I laughed a lot-the show is very clearly aimed at people my sort of age and has lots of pop culture references as well as jokes about student debt and how graduate jobs just aren't all they're cracked up to be. Alongside the humour though were darker moments which didn't feel out of place but oddly fitting-I mean yes the idea that your feet can control you is pretty silly but that doesn't mean that there isn't a dark side to it too.
The energy of the 5-strong cast was fab and I'm quite sure they must be exhausted by now (they've been performing all month) but you couldn't tell at all. The physical acting was spot on too-you really believed that their feet were stuck to the floor or that they weren't in control of their own movements as they jerked about erratically, feet fully in charge. I loved the simplicity of the set and costumes too-simple black clothes with a 'chalk outline' detailing, and all the props and set were drawn onto chalkboards by the cast at the start of the show which was really actually quite fun to watch-especially as they didn't stop moving throughout.
The whole show was very well put together and was really enjoyable. I mean sure, it was a little bit weird and I'm not sure I totally understand the ending but that didn't detract from it at all and I came out with my ribs firmly tickled from laughing. Plus any show that offers ticket holders a free pair of socks on the way in is most certainly all right by me!
4 down, 5 more to go, so come back soon!
-Jenni-
The Showstoppers are on at the Gilded Balloon (Venue #14) at 22:30 until the 25th. Tickets are £13.50/£12.50 conc. More details here.
Pussyfooting is on at 13:20 at C Aquila (Venue #21) until the 26th. Tickets are £8.50/£6.50 conc. More details here.
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