Theatre / Comedy, Laughing Horse @ Free Sisters, Venue 272, 16:30 until 30th August.
From Philadelphia based writer/actor Chris Davis, of last year’s bilingual hit ‘Drunk Lion’, comes a piece of character based comedy in the Free Sisters’ Yurt Locker playing every day at 4:30 until the end of August. Marcus Livengood is a comparative zoologist convinced that the next great conflict to shake the Earth will be an animal vs human war, as the dolphins beneath conspire with the sloths above to overthrow the hegemonic supremacy of Homo sapiens. Featuring live translation of dissident fish chatter, hard evidence for his thesis and unshakeable conviction that we ought to pay closer attention to what our furry friends are up to lest they come for us in the night.
The audience come filtering through out of the rain into a small tent pitched just by the entrance to the pub courtyard, ranging from a group of minor-hecklers to a slightly bemused couple in their early 50s the witnesses to Livengood’s lecture on the rise in anti-human violence since 1982 are a mixed bunch. Davis does well to handle the ‘Lad’ types that have decided to grunt over his performance, and doesn’t break character for a moment, even managing to endear them to his performance to the point that they are snapchatting it from the back row.
Admittedly a surreal experience at times, this is absurd character comedy at its best and a far cry from the observational humour and stand up format which oversaturates the Fringe. If you are looking for something a bit different this year and are willing to suspend disbelief inside a slightly damp yurt you’re sure to catch a great performance – as a free performance its hardly as though you’ve anything to lose. Off-beat, intimate and sure to leave you smiling to yourself throughout and laughing out loud as the animal v human conflict escalates.
