This is so much fun. The Edinburgh award-nominees return with a brand new adventure, filled with ridiculous props, animated high jinx, and good-natured name-calling. Even technical gaffs have their own punchline lined up in case of errors, but it’s mostly not needed with the only mishaps a few moments corpsing and frantic costume changes. Suspend your disbelief for an hour, accept that you are now a voyeuristic seagull amongst a flock of voyeuristic seagulls, and join Amy and Christopher-Louise on a wild fun-filled adventure of buttons and OnlyFans.
Our protagonists are deeply likeable. From the cumbersome boat they use to travail the aisle, fully assisted with sea spray on a frankly grateful audience in the warm room and a mist accompanying their arrival on shore, the details from the off are enchanting. Tangents turn become short stand-up sets, sight gags are given time to land and then topped up with a comment. This has been painstakingly and lovingly assembled with loads of laughter and a story arc that takes you from simply lost into deeply perilous, with a side-order of creepy as Amy is wooed in a slightly jarringly dramatic arts fashion not quite in sync with the broad humorous performance style the rest of the show employs. But that’s a quibble.
It’s a great script artfully written, turning many a skilled phrase to bring delight – whether it’s concerning a nod at a type of man’s DVD collection that could easily become a new kind of ‘Karen’-identifier, or commenting on Amy’s ever-increasing and marvellously graphic libido.
A nod of appreciation must be made to the tech skills employed here too with sound cues and animations layering the jokes and ambiance exponentially, whether it’s a constantly moving seascape or clever graphics allowing the cast to move through many rooms and hallways adorned with quirky interior designs.
Unsurprisingly the room was packed out, which only added to the feeling that we were indeed the squawking and entertained flock of seagulls we’d been cast as. And a more fortunate collection of sea birds you’d be hard pressed to find.
The Delightful Sausage – Nowt But Sea
12.45, Monkey Barrel 4, 3-28 (except 17th) August 2022
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on#q=%22The%20Delightful%20Sausage%3A%20Nowt%20but%20Sea%22
