The Midnight Beast – All Killer continues at Pleasance Dome until 28 August.
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
A multi-media production incorporating video and ‘scene setting’ projected onto a backcloth, we see video of a young woman who has clearly been attacked and is asked how it began. She replies: “The same as it ended – with a song.”
The first ‘live action’ sees a young chap, Steph, composing music on a keyboard in his room, trying to educate his off-stage dad that being compared to Ed Sheeran is NOT a compliment! He has a pleasant voice and is preparing for an audition for the village show.
The auditions are being held in the village hall where we meet Bea, self-appointed queen of the village, who is in charge of the show.
She is joined by Summer – the girl we saw on the video – a wallflower, a somewhat inept young chap who is immediately put in charge of all off-stage elements of the show, and the local ‘cool dude’ who makes his entrance gliding in on a skateboard.
The ensemble number ‘Keep the Light on Me’ is very catchy in a bubblegum pop way. The writers, TMB and Paul Neafcy, seem to be still on the way to finding their own sound with the score for this show taking a few interesting turns along the way: sampling sounds with video clips and a rap sequence are just a few of a varied array of styles.
One slasher death follows another as the cast members are disposed of at an alarming rate.
It is a slasher comedy of sorts, but hitting neither the horror nor the comedy genres with any sustained competence or artistic flair.
Fiona Orr
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.