Edinburgh Fringe 2024
An Unexpected Hiccup
Lung Ha with Plutot La Vie
Genre: Absurd Theatre, Comedy, New Writing, Physical Theatre
Venue: Zoo Southside
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Five rival siblings rattling round a creepy crumbling ancestral home, an enigmatic butler, a stormy night and an innocent abroad. All the ingredients for a surreal and sinister tale of comic misunderstandings and disconcerting eccentricities.
Review
A very enjoyable theatrical hour full of laugh out loud moments, An Unexpected Hiccup is both a pastiche stuffed with many a hammy trope of B-list pulp horror and an absurdist exploration of tender family dynamics reminiscent of a Lemony Snickert novel. A family of misfits are waiting for their father to die, a solicitor has been dispatched for and a long-lost brother might turn up to do them out of an inheritance. Into this milieu of festering petty jealousies, soaked to the skin and driven to their front door step by the storm is Murdo, a hapless musician.
Although this is a classic set up for a mistaken identity comedy, the plot written by Michael Duke (story Ian Cameron) steers clear of that and explores instead how an innocent thrown into a disconcerting situation is prepared to relate to each individual encountered on their terms when a more sophisticated traveller would make snap judgements blinded by prejudice. Lung Ha Theatre Company have been making work with and for actors with learning disabilities for 40 years and An Unexpected Hiccup creates a perfect vehicle for promoting talent and ability. Led by professional actor, director and sleight of hand magician Tim Licata (a magnificent Murdo) the Lung Ha company of six are all accomplished performers but perhaps Emma McCaffrey, with fine comic timing, stands out as the frankly terrifying Thelma.
A musical score specifically composed (Andrew Cruickshank) complements the scene setting adding spooky vibes and at key points accompanies a poignant ballad of lost love (sung by the curiously winsome man-eater Louise – Emma Clark) and a dream sequence showcasing the array of talents in the cast – Keith Watson (brother Colin) sparkles in a Drag Race fantasy. At times the underscoring can overwhelm the more softly spoken in the cast, an easily addressed grumble. A slightly larger irritant is that having tantalisingly displayed the key to the cellar in which there is a ghastly secret hidden this strand of the plot isn’t satisfactorily resolved; the quirky and surreal need a balance of narrative drive.
The set (Karen Tennent) is dominated by a wall of mis-matched doors evoking an ancient Scottish manse as imagined by a Hollywood scenic design from the heyday of Hammer horror and is used to fantastic effect with slick physical theatre by Directors Maria Oller and Cameron. A sophisticated lighting design (Simon Wilkinson) is a counterpoint to the deliciously over the top comedy acting from all the cast.
Whether these are intended references or not, The Unexpected Hiccup is a delightful mashup of The Rocky Horror Show, Faulty Towers and Hitchcock’s 39 Steps. At one point the family of eccentrics, in a rare moment of unity, line up in military formation to bark out the official family rules, as though the Von Trapp family had never escaped over the mountains and were doomed to a forever of doh re mi and nursery spats. “Truth is a but a fantastic lie” is one of the many family mottos presented to a bewildered Murdo but the truth in this instance is that this Lung Ha production is very good indeed so take advantage of its short run at Zoo Southside.
