Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Perhaps harking back to their youth theatre pasts – or forward to where they might end up if their careers go wrong – actors Charlotte Anne-Tilley and Mabel Thomas have created a knockabout ensemble sitcom, despite the obvious drawback that there’s only two of them.

Serious Theatre From Serious People is set in the Bet On It Youth Theatre, who are working on an over-ambitious project to write, rehearse and stage a new play every day of the Edinburgh Fringe.

The rag-tag team include an American ‘pageant girl’ unable to emote, a pyromaniac who needs constant supervision, a ’head of authenticity’ only willing to play ultra-masculine parts and a chief executive who can only communicate in Disney quotes. Their challenge is further complicated by an unrequited love, melodramatically played out, as well as cast members getting distracted by their personal side projects, such as the immersive Plague-based theatre piece, 68,000 Dead, and a hard-hitting play about addiction.

Anne-Tilley and Thomas’s script will resonate with theatre school kids, as well as boasting a few Fringe-specific references, but is essentially a vehicle for their larger-than-life caricatures. They are fun, if uncomplicated, creations easily forgotten once the hours’s up but entertaining enough until then.

The plot is fairly superficial, but the duo successfully negotiate the restriction of having every scene featuring only very specific combinations of two characters without the limitations becoming obvious (though a third character is added later, a member of venue staff concerned about what they are up to).

The pair are lively performers with a chaotic, yet clearly rehearsed, energy as they frantically run around the space, occasionally nipping behind the curtain to swap hats to become a different character.  

There are some nice visual gags such as the lovelorn kid earnestly concentrating on his guitar cords but forgetting to strum, and a few amusing puns and quips – but the coltish spirit is the main draw.

With in-jokes aplenty, the audience are given tips on acting and demonstrations of scene transitions, while one character laments that the one thing really holding her back in her acting career is having had a really happy childhood. It’s probably a bit niche, but if you can’t be niche at the Fringe, where can you be?

Review date: 17 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Gilded Balloon Patter House