Edinburgh Festival Fringe be afraid, be very afraid, and then be prepared to raid those sneaky Airbnb minibars dooming you yet further into fiscal penury forever and beyond.
Those Brummie blighters, Parky Players are back in Auld Reekie with ridiculous, cheeky life relevant, poignant revels.
With more Bond spoof and kiss me dead kitsch-and-tell parody puns a punter can bear – what’s not to like? You expect to giggle? No! Mister, Misses, Miss (insert preferred pronoun here) You can expect to DIE! (See what we did there?) laughing.
Yet again, Director, co-writer, Rachel Green (self proclaimed august angel emcee from t’north Drama Queen) and the Parky Players have hijacked the Bond gestalt with gristly vengeance.
The Parky Players are a disarming, disparate cohort of so soul cool alt.luvvie-shy Thesps with Parkinson’s (PWPs) together with people who support PWPs(PUPs) who are passionate about raising awareness of the condition through comedy, music and the arts.
The show’s cocky pun on Bond’s cocktail of preference resonates with ironic relish. Meanwhile, at some point early in the convoluted narrative it appears that his go-to-licenced-to-kill Walther PPK weapon of choice is substituted for a banana. A slip-up? Peels of laughter? You will know them by their fruits.
The Bond meme is manipulated, gesticulated, masticated, expostulated and elevated to plunging new depths even more unfathomable than how come a villain’s lair can be built in a dormant volcano -WITH OUT ANYONE NOTICING!
Bond is out of shape and a worryingly jungle-dressed khaki dominatrix needs to get him in back in shape, fit-to-kill villains. There’s also a trio of pesky spies on loan direct from central casting. Dr No goes up to eleven with his literal take on his eponymous name. Stroking his pantomime cat he’s comfy in his script zone demands: answering every question with a ’NO’. Simples. Forgot that insinuating Blankety-Blank jingle? Try again not to!
Mischievous misunderstandings, stun-gun stereotypes and sadnesses are woven into the show’s naughty nonsense fabric with sometimes nuance, sometimes sledgehammer subtlety. Without labouring the point, the cast convey their consistent concern with getting their ‘time critical meds’. Don’t even talk about being refused a drink in a pub because looking drunk or a bit ‘weird’. There’s even a rousing ‘The Road’ sing-a-long coda to close the show. What were once prejudices are shaken, heart and souls stirred.
This is a show you will never want to forget. Because a time may come there isn’t the option to.
Ratings? They’re all Stars!
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/shaken-not-stirred
