Review by Steve Bennett

Oh yippee. A musical about Dungeons and Dragons. Or, as Tripod put it: ‘A dork’s wet dream.’

However, for all their attempts to de-nerd the premise and write an impressive soundtrack, Tripod Versus The Dragon is a disappointment, with sluggish pace, a plodding plot and, crucially, far too little heed paid to making it funny. If I’d wanted an earnest 80-minute prog-rock opera about orcs, bards and demons, I would have gone to 1972.

Valiant efforts are made to bring the arcane world of D&D to a wider audience with the least geeky of the trio, Gatesy, playing a newcomer to the 20-sided dice who needs the game’s finer points explained. Making this world understandable is easy, but making it interesting proves more elusive.

In any case, D&D gameplay is irrelevant – this is a musical in which three men go and kill a dragon, with subplots. Anyone who’s seen similar epic adventures on fringe comedy budgets will know what to expect: ambitious scenes re-enacted by shadow puppets, and knowing nods to the limitation of the production.

Tripod’s musical talents can’t be overstated, and their tight-harmony tracks are exquisitely done. The addition of a beautiful female voice, Elana Stone, as the dragon/love interest makes for some haunting melodies. But not, unfortunately, particularly funny ones.

There are a few witty asides, a bit of amiable bickering before we get on to the show proper, but the humour is kept in check by the grandiloquent story, where no character need say anything when they can proclaim it, one arm proudly in the air. Tiny in-jokes lie that pepper the script, but none strong enough to bring out the laughs.

Some have loved Tripod’s move into the theatrical, but in sacrificing most of the sparky badinage that made them so loved, the result can barely be classed as comedy.

Review date: 9 Apr 2010
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett