Just a little late for Halloween, Kill The Beast brought their spooky film farce to Norwich – but it was no horror show.
Four talented performers (David Cumming, Natasha Hodgson, Ollie Jones, and Zoe Roberts) rapidly switched wigs, dresses, and too-tight lycra to tell the story of the shooting of a 70s horror film that goes wrong after the lead performer meets an untimely end – before coming back to haunt the remaining cast and crew.
The show is tremendously silly, very rude in parts, and for the lion’s share of the 70-minute run pretty funny.
It is at its strongest in pure farce mode as the protagonists try to conceal a clandestine love affair and the accidental murder of a chimpanzee.
As well as great physical comedy there are some brilliant subtle jokes, including a dispute about misplaced cheesy puffs being avoided by one of the cast discreetly sucking their fingers to hide the evidence.
The cast seem happiest though when performing the many music numbers – although sadly these are the least funny parts, and the finale is particularly over-long.
Overall though this is a winningly-inventive and fun production, that boldly pokes fun at some theatrical and filmic conventions and leaves you in high spirits.
