Producer James Seabright has plucked comedy shows Barbershopera: Apocalypse No! and The Fitzrovia Radio Hour from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and brought them to the intimate Trafalgar Studios 2.
The shows are entirely separate entities, yet seeing them back to back in one evening it is clear that they both embody the experimental, youthful, raw spirit that makes the Edinburgh Festival what it is. In particular, Barbershopera’s offering has a no frills feel which makes it seem like a student production performed to entertain punters in the uni bar. But that is not to do it down. It may have few props and little in the way of set, but this only enhances the quality of the singing and the musical arrangements. This is student deluxe.
Apocalypse No! is the third show from the barbershop quartet and this time the foursome are tackling the end of the world. Angels sent by God to survey proceedings on Earth have decided that the world has gone to pot – what else could explain Piers Morgan’s career trajectory? – and the only thing for it is to destroy the Earth altogether. So God – a Charlie’s Angels style voiceover – instructs the four horseman of the apocalypse to bring about the end of the world by tea time tomorrow. The only problem is, Death has died, leaving only three horsemen to do the job.
Reluctantly roped into the plot is earnest primary school teacher Beth. Luckily, it’s not long until she has the three horsemen eating out of her hand as she makes them see the error of their ways. Soon all Famine wants is a jolly good meal, and Pestilence can’t stop cleaning.
All this is told through a super a capella score – tightly sung by the talented quartet – which combines humorous lyrics with different musical styles. It is a demanding show for the cast, who have to keep the energy up and the story zipping along at a fast pace, with almost no time off stage. This they manage right to the sugar-sweet yet tongue-in-cheek end.
Equally tightly choreographed is The Fitzrovia Radio Hour, a spoof of 1940s radio shows which takes us behind the scenes to see exactly how the sound effects are created.
The show tells us three stories – which vary from a supernatural romp in the British Museum to a sad tale set in Leeds – but the entertainment comes as much from how the stories are told as from the tales themselves. In fact, it is sometimes hard to concentrate on the story at all, such is the fascination of seeing how hitting a cabbage can sound like throwing a punch.
The five strong cast, scripts in hand, move about the set as though performing a silent dance, the only sounds being those they create for the purposes of the story. Waggling a light-fitting creates the sound of wind; throwing a heavy bag on the floor denotes a fallen body; rustling some paper conjures fire.
The stories also test the cast’s voice skills, with Alix Dunmore particularly excelling as she voices everything from a Leeds housewife and an Indian army officer to a screaming baby and a horse.
The stories are interspersed by voiced adverts for Rathbones drugs which propagate ‘the science of chemicals’, a nice touch which adds to the 1940s feel.
Seen together, the two shows make for a substantial evening. But it would be perhaps best to see these shows on separate nights to fully appreciate their equally entertaining, yet very different styles of humour.
CB