"This show is a total must" - ★★★ Get The Chance

A nice review from Get The Chance, our first this Edinburgh, that definitely reads like a 4.

REVIEW: SCOTTISH FALSETTO SOCK PUPPET THEATRE, ROLL ON, EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL, BY HANNAH GOSLIN

At half 9 at night, the last thing you would be expecting to see is a sock puppet show. I love a good puppet, but I equally love an usual concept. Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre (SFSPT) sure are the unusual.

Opened to the world of adult puppetry and it becoming more familiar a concept, we have all heard of the adult themed ‘Avenue Q’ and a few years ago, ‘Hand to God’. Even cartoons have become more adult friendly, opening up a whole new world in performing arts.

And while I hesitate to compare SFSPT to such shows (a joke in the performance itself reflecting this), it is agreeable that this concept Is not as unusual as it may once were. Yet I was still pleasantly surprised and excited.

Puppetry come comedy, the FSPT does not rely on humour alone to get by. There is a theme, and it is ever changing (as we hear from its 15 or so years of its presence). This round is Circus themed –with The Greatest Showman being so prevalent in the last year, SFSPT draw upon this to create a narrative, but feels free to go a little off course, ad lib where necessary and it is all just as funny as the original plan. We are at times asked to use our imagination, thinking of a sock puppet out of shot on a tightrope or completing an another amazing feat.

They keep the information present – keeping to events and news from the last year, even making jokes and making it clear that some of the audience may find some too obscure, we cannot help but love it and definitely feel included.

With only one man, two puppets, and maybe around 5 character’s, it is a feat of genius and skill at set and ‘costume’ changes with one hand- a magical experience we all wish we knew the answer to. He manages to give each character its own personality, even with their interaction with one another being quick. Of course there are times when a Australian accent is suddenly Scottish and he soon realises it. But this only adds to the humour – there is no masking mistakes, only inclusion of them.

The narrative went a little off course and dark humoured, but you know what, I was not mad at it. I was sufficiently entertained, laughed my socks off (pardon the pun) and had a really interesting and splendid time.

Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre is not exactly breaking theatrical boundaries, but my gosh was it a lot of fun. If you fancy something unusual, ridiculous (is a good way) and a good laugh, then this show is a total must.

Until August 25th, The Scottish Falsetto Socks ROLL UP! at the Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose 9.30pm, every night of the Edinburgh Fringe 2019. On sale now!