If nothing else, The Crown Dual is a good lesson in not judging fringe shows by their two sentence marketing blurbs. As my husband and I were enthusiastically directed into some front row seats we wondered at the wisdom of coming to see a spoof of a Netflix show (“The Crown”) that we had never seen and never wanted to see.
Still, we’d got the tickets for half price at the Virgin hut, so there wasn’t much to lose.
Luckily, our low expectations were completely upended over the following hour.
The show is held together brilliantly by just two actors – Rosie Holt and Brendan Murphy. Holt plays the queen at various stages of her young life, while Murphy dashes between a slew of other royal family members, politicians and Princess Margaret’s love interests. When extras are needed the audience is called upon in a hilarious and well thought out sequence of scenes which had me in tears of laughter.
A quick disclaimer here – if you like the Royal family, this is not the show for you. Your money would be better spent at the Holyrood House Royal Wedding Exhibition (except that it wouldn’t)
Simply put, if you want to see a masterpiece of comedy theatre which really embodies the spirit of the fringe, then look no further than this show.
The script is tight, the jokes are funny, the audience participation is good natured and the actors really seem to be enjoying themselves.
I’d go so far as to say that it’s a dual in the crown of the Fringe.
