Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Monsterrrr! With Trygve Wakenshaw
TOBOSO and Topper & Fred
Genre: Children's Theatre, Clown, Comedy
Venue: Piccolo Tent at Assembly George Square Gardens
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A masterclass (monsterclass?) in family comedy – chaos, charm and child-fuelled mischief from start to finish.
Review
Monsterrrr! With Trygve Wakenshaw is a highly recommended children’s show. This is the kind of production that makes adults jealous that they might not feel young enough to volunteer to be a part of one of the many brilliant audience participation moments.
Trygve Wakenshaw performs with a surging anarchy and joy as the the titular, Monsterrrr. His crowd work is remarkable; coaxing responses, feeling out the level of the room and by the end, the children are feeling fully emboldened to get involved and are swarming the stage, gleefully feeding on the chaos they’ve been invited to create.
It is a fine balance being so likeable and silly without ever patronising and yet still keeping the comedy accessible enough for even the youngest to enjoy. We are treated to Monsterrrr’s stuffed toy sidekick, Bambi getting mistreated, the pure joy of simply pressing a forbidden button and the monster himself being wrapped in masking tape and regularly being banished to the ‘naughty room’ that gives him a comical shock each time he tries to escape.
The costume and characterisation are spot on. Wakenshaw is instantly endearing and has pitched his role perfectly for the audience. There is hide-and-seek, rock-paper-scissors, a burst of ballet and even the Macarena. The result is total mayhem in the best possible sense. He is also a natural clown; regularly checking in with the audience during his many struggles and feeding beautifully off the energetic responses he gleans from an enraptured younger audience.
Monsterrrr! With Trygve Wakenshaw is creative, endearing, mischievous and very, very funny to adults and children alike.
