EdFringe review: Glitch – The Improvised Puppet Show ★★★★ at theSpace @ Surgeons Hall

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Glitch – The Improvised Puppet Show ★★★★

Edinburgh theSpace @ Surgeons Hall (Venue 53) ​

Until Saturday 20^th August 2016

Photo: Rebecca Need-Menear

Puppets can get away with more than people. Add in the improvised element and you have a show that is regularly selling out. The quick minded cast not only have to make up the script, based upon the last line, but they’ve also got to handle big puppets similar to the cast of Avenue Q. These guys have a winning formula and it produces a lot of laughs.

Photo: Rebecca Need-Menear

The show begins with a number of suggestions from the audience for the elements of the show that will make this evening’s show unique. The audience are encouraged to come up with good rather than naughty ideas.

The performance space is split into 3 areas. In the centre is the main story area. On the left is an area that the puppets retreat to if there is an aside to be made. For example, if a puppet say “the other day I was saying…”, then they’d go left and have that conversation in full. On the right is the woodwind musician who plays the soundtrack on their instrument and, so like the puppeteers, they have to improvise with the mood of the piece as it develops.

Photo: Rebecca Need-Menear

This show is not for young children. It isn’t the Muppets. But, based on this evening’s show, it isn’t as rude as Avenue Q either. But just like Avenue Q, the puppets take a lot of handling (most are not just glove puppets and can require a number of handlers.)

Whilst it is a show about puppet monsters, it is the undercurrent of the human condition that makes the show interesting. It examines doubt, procrastination, your good side playing off your bad side. The audience had plenty to laugh at as they recognised these personality traits from the puppets dialogue. For a story being made up on the hoof it ran very smoothly and the show felt like it quickly came to the end of the set.

Glitch is a high quality improvisation show from a talented cast, using puppets, that produce many laughs. No wonder it keeps selling out.

This review was written by Stephen Oliver the North East Theatre Guide – follow Stephen at @panic_c_button

Tickets:

Tickets £8.00 Students £6.00

Book over the phone: 0131 226 0000

In person at The Fringe Box Office - 180 High Street, EH1 1QS or The University of Edinburgh Visitor Centre, 2 Charles Street, EH8 9AD. (Card sales only)

Tickets can be booked online at https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/wychwood