You enter a very small room (I’ve been in bathrooms bigger than this), to find stage occupying one corner and also a huge number of interesting looking props and costumes. As you you wait for the show to start you wonder how these will be employed.
Enter the cast the outgoing and vivacious Short (a diminutive Rebecca Shorrocks) and the reserved straight man Curly (a very tall Paul F Taylor with his curly hair). Curly has decided he wishes to become a proper actor and has enrolled in an acting masterclass hosted by Kevin Spacey, but will Short let him break up the team?
The props come into play a number of sketches, a little audience interaction and a lot of bad puns. Some of the props are huge and some of the puns are terrible, but the sketches are very funny and, despite a mishap within the first few minutes which knocked all the props (including a glass of water) all over the stage, it all made for a very riotous, funny hour.
We were treated to a little (Best) western, a film noir femme fatale detective drama, a musical which appeared to turn into ‘Gone With The Wind’ and a parody of ‘28 Days Later’. Kevin Spacey makes a couple of cameos offering sage advice. The audience were very loud in their laughs, groans and applause for the show and I can definitely recommend this as a good show to start your comedy day. Even if you hate puns, this is worth seeing just for the chaos a tiny room full of props will inevitably become.
A Curly Night In is on at Gilded Balloon at the Counting House until August 29
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on#q=Short%20%26%20Curly%20-%20A%20Curly%20Night%20In