3 1/2 STARS
The Super Awesome Happy Fun-Time Trick Performance is a show every bit as mad-cap and crazy as the title promises, although not for the reasons that you might expect. It’s a wild, stupidly silly and relentlessly entertaining evening of theatre that will leave you laughing all the way through.
Five performers are awaiting the start of the greatest performance of their lives… except the sixth performer hasn’t shown up yet. So begins a desperate attempt to entertain the audience at any cost – from magic tricks to appalling stand-up to monologues about dead goldfish. Yet the play retains a sinister tone as well, as the actors get frustrated and their desperation becomes aggressive, culminating in a jaw-dropping finale that will put you off yoghurt and spaghetti hoops for life.
Ben Webber’s script is strong at capturing naturalistic dialogue, sounding convincingly like the actors are trying to ad-lib their way through an evening of theatre, and there are moments of real comic genius. In particular, I enjoyed George Waring’s highly physical monologue about the murder of his goldfish, as he threw himself around the stage with incredibly high energy. Charlotte Kirkman and Micheala Green were also both strong at interacting comfortably with the audience throughout the piece, playing off of the reactions they got with incredible skill. Kate O’Gorman’s ditzy yoghurt-eating magician’s assistant and Natalia Gonzales’ hilarious attempt at stand-up were both incredibly entertaining.
I did wish there was more variety in the characterizations, as they are all aggressive to the point of insanity and cruel to the point of mentally and physically torturing each other, shouting insults and hurling abuse constantly throughout the play. I feel this choice would have had more power if a couple more characters had been a little more normal to create more contrast, or if this had been played as a more gradual transition from normal actors to aggressive psychos. Only O’Gorman played a significantly different character, but her quiet nature did not create much dramatic contrast, and even this had been erased by the end. Whilst this does compliment the mean-spirited tone of the script, it did create a show that remained quite tonally similar all the way through until the very end.
The play was at its best when the actors were playing off of the audience, or attempting to entertain in a desperate, high energy novelty act. When Kirkman starts off the show by eating a banana in front of the audience whilst her co-star goes to get the rest of the cast, it is absolutely hysterical, and she holds the audience’s attention absolutely. The dance number as well, which was deliberately poorly executed but performed extremely enthusiastically, was incredibly entertaining to watch.
Director Jamie Watt and Producer Maddie Strauss have taken on a challenging script, but have created a piece of theatre that effectively blurs the line between reality and performance in theatre, and what it means to be “entertained.” It’s funny, it’s dark, and it’s a bold and daring piece of Fringe theatre.
Where to buy tickets: http://newtheatre.org.uk/whats-on/
Edited by: Jess Greaney
Sources:
https://benwebber94.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/the-super-awesome-happy-fun…