FRINGE 2017: Little Death Club – The Black Forest – The Royal Croquet Club – 2K

By Tom Eckert

Little death club

Little Death Club promises ” an hour of dangerously funny cabaret, sideshow and burlesque at its most inappropriate and hilarious best” and manages to hit all the marks except for that last one.

In previous iterations, Dead Man Comedy has produced shows with the same leading woman that were charactersied by their wit and idiosyncratic absurd humour. This is precisely where the current show falls short. Rather than wit and imagination the show is dominated by cheap, crude jokes and frankly gratuitous and needless nudity in the second half of the show.

The highlights that remain are; an at times humourous deadpan and technical reading of a Mills and Boon novel which still at times fell flat, and a brace of songs that are remnants of previous shows which maintained their cleverness.

If I was to stab at why it is the case that the mighty have fallen so, it would be that previously the show has been performed by a duo of the present leading lady and a partner, the latter of which is conspicuously absent in this years version. It is my thinking that having parted ways, the show lost a talent and the intellect behind some of its better work. But as I say, this is only a guess.

Having previously very much enjoyed these productions I very much hope they find their way again.

Kryztoff Rating: 2K

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