Norris & Parker: See You at the Gallows

By Ron Bingham Norris and Parker

Norris and Parker are two confident young women who are very talented and have created an impressive double act. I enjoyed their debut show last year (All Our Friends are Dead), and this is billed as their second debut show. They are definitely worth second look, but unfortunately, I hate to tell them, that, despite the brilliant show they have created, they won’t be in the running for Best Newcomers this year.

For their second Debut  Katie Norris and Sinead Parker have added a gentleman pianist Kristoff ( Chris Thomson), a very bleak and black hipster Victorian character.  The girls perform See You at the Gallows in black bodysuits, adding costumes as the sketches require. We start with a rousing tongue in cheek sketch about femiNazis, gain a little insight into the personal lives of our hosts and see a two act play that is a Cornish cannibal murder mystery romance drama. There are a couple of  funny songs (warning: not all of the people on stage have excellent voices), a very tiny bit of audience interaction – well actually there is a huge segment of audience interaction but I wasn’t picked so I enjoyed it for once. There is also one sketch I remember Norris and Parker performing in their last show, but it was the excellent Jackie Cooper-Clarke routine, so it was well worth a repeat airing.

As the title of the show suggests, the comedy is on the dark side of the spectrum. Lots of sexual innuendo as well as saucy dance numbers and tales of fractured relationships, lots of double act type shouty bickering and a little swearing. The writing and comedy acting are impressively good, as is the interaction between the three main cast members. There were only a few problems with props and costume changes which will fade as the run proceeds. The important thing is that Norris and Parker know what they are doing and that is making a seriously entertaining Festival show for a smart audience with a penchant for black humour.

The room is very small, and like most Edinburgh Fringe venues, extremely hot,  it sold out first night and will no doubt continue to do so.

See You at the Gallows is on at the Pleasance Courtyard until August 28
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-

 

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