Sunday 6 August 2017

Big Bite-Size Breakfast (Menu 2), Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh Fringe

The Bite-Size team are back with another three selections of morning mini-playlets, fronted by the cast distributing strawberries, coffee and croissants.  Six actors, a mix of familiar and new faces.  In this, Menu 2, there are six performances crammed into the hour, so there's no shortage of pace and energy on stage.

I Don't Know raises questions about the impact of gender fluidity on the US military and provides a hilarious starter, Billy Knowelden excellent as the officer struggling to keep up.  In Scripted a young couple wake to find their whole day laid out in a script, raising questions about how much control we have over our lives and the impact of breaking from routine.  Mama's Eggnog has another American setting, a trio of siblings taking in a drink with an unusual additive.  In Stuck two strangers find themselves forced together in unusual proximity, and a chance to demonstrate their physical comedy skills, while Attack of the Killer Banana Spider is an arachnophobe's nightmare, even if the there's some appeal in what they produce for four hours.  Finally, Ten Ton Truck features the smug couple everyone loves to hate, and the weakest script of the group.

Overall there's a lot of laughs, impressive performances and a wide variety of subject matter.  A Bite-Size breakfast remains one of the best possible starts to a Fringing day you can choose.

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