Brighton Fringe 2008
Low Down
All seven Harry Potter novels in just over an hour!!
Review
The task of summarising over 3,000 pages of the most popular fiction of the last decade and spoofing it in the space of 70 minutes would seem daunting to even the most established of satirists. It is a challenge which our hosts Jeff Turner and Dan Clarkson rise to admirably.
As a piece of family entertainment, the show begins by drawing in the younger audiences by stressing the excitement surrounding the magical world created by J.K. Rowling. In the early stages of the performance, adults may be concerned that their children are going to be having a lot more fun than they are. However, as the show hits it’s stride, the comic abilities of the pair are given full exposure. The performance benefits greatly from appealing to both younger and older audiences. Whilst children can lap up the performers enthusiam for the Harry Potter universe, there are some very witty critical references to Rowling as an author (her reliance on the formulaic, the amount of camping in the Deathly Hallows).
The sheer amount of ad-libbing between the pair gives us a good representation of the senses of humour needed to create a parody such as this. Far from boring us with the formulaic themselves, rather than summarising each book in the same way, the boys think of inventive ways to prevent the show from getting too repetitive. A half-time game of Quidditch keeps the younger audience members amused and the finale involving a rewritten version of a disco classic ends the show on a very funny high. A recommended excursion for the family.
