The Monster In The Hall
Space on the Mile, Edinburgh Fringe
Reviewed by Freddie Lee on the 16th August 2018
The Monster In The Hall written by David Greig, follows a day in the life of Duck Macatarnsey who is young carer for her dad who has Multiple Sclerosis. Today, they are awaiting a visit from social services to check up on them however Duck is adamant that they will take her into care. To make matters worse, today is the day when Hugh, her father, wakes up completely blind which is a symptom of MS.
I thought the entire cast was superb and very professional. Esther Wilkes as Duck really connected with the audience which I thought was very special and she was very comedic especially when everything was going wrong. Scott Ringan as Duck's father Hugh, often had the entire audience in laughter because of him tripping and falling over random objects and on the whole I loved his performance. The ensemble often had other little parts in the story such as Cameron Banks as Duck's friend Lawrence, Heather Milne as Hugh's online gaming partner Agnetha and my personal favourite, Lucy Deehan as the social services worker Linda Underhill and the Fairy of Chaos! I thought the ensemble were excellent as they kept the audience on their toes and wondering what is going to happen next as well as being very entertaining throughout the show.
The show takes place in an intimate venue which adds to the theatre experience because it makes you feel very close to the story while it is being performed. As a result, during the sad moments of the story, you feel sad too and during the comedic bits of the story, you are laughing out loud which is really nice as you wouldn't get this sort of intimacy in a proper theatre.
Capsize Collective described it as being their 'unique' take on this show and I can absolutely see why. It is fresh, funny and very touching and a perfect way to spend a couple of hours laughing away!
Do you have a show you would like me to review? e-mail me at freddieelee@gmail.com
Thank you very much to Capsize Collective for inviting me along to see and review their show!
