ED2019 3/5 Reviews ED2019 Comedy Reviews

Whose Mind Is It Anyway? (Whose Mind Is It Anyway?)

By Jon Stapley | Published on Friday 9 August 2019

Improvised movies are nothing new at the Fringe, so it’s not surprising to see a twist on the formula. The hook here is that half of this movie musical’s actors supposedly haven’t turned up, so the only thing to do is replace them with hypnotised audience members. Professional hypnotist Simon Warner leads proceedings, aided by a troupe of skilled improvisers, and last night we saw the tale of the fabulous Dame Janet, wealthy patron to a local chemist’s. Though this is an understandable constraint of the format, the fact that the process of whittling the audience down to the hypnotisable volunteers takes, frankly, an age, does mean that the movie itself, while good fun, ends up feeling a little rushed.

Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, until 26 Aug.
tw rating 3/5 | [Jon Stapley]