Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Murmuration
Steve Vertigo
Genre: Comedy, Solo Performance, Storytelling, Theatre
Venue: Greenside
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Steve Vertigo is a polished performer, and this is a very funny show that doesn’t choose sides in the standup/storytelling divide. It succeeds remarkably at both, though its ultimate dodge of storytelling responsibilities hobbles the greatness its clever writing and inventive zaniness are otherwise poised to deliver.
Review
Many of us have likely admired the coordinated movements of a large flock of birds at some point. Very few will have been sufficiently inspired by the experience to invent a “what if” that wraps a meditation on the pleasures of merging with the crowd and on the dangers of artificial intelligence up with some gentle cross-species romantic tension inside a hilarious absurdist dystopia. Writer/performer Steve Vertigo just sees things a bit differently.
Murmuration is, if you’ll forgive me, a bit of an odd bird. Is it standup with an unusually robust narrative, or storytelling with an exceptional number of very funny jokes? It’s to Vertigo’s credit that the show succeeds in either category.
Vertigo is an admirably polished performer. His deliberate pace and laconic deadpan delivery, in the mien of US comedian Steven Wright, take lines that are already clever on the page and give them that extra punch of perfect timing that renders them extraordinary. Though the staging is spare – really, just Vertigo in some black feathers over his clothes, and yellow socks – the story is still visual, thanks to his convincing avian mannerisms and impressions.
There’s no inherent connection between a starling murmuration and the perils of runaway technology, so the plot can get a bit silly in connecting them, but, really, if you object to “silly,” you probably came to the wrong show anyway. The story spends a long time amiably meandering through its initial set-up, using it as a platform for joke-telling, which is not a problem when the jokes are this good.
Still, it’s something of a relief when the tale eventually starts to generate some genuine tension. Unfortunately, though the plot does get delightfully airborne, it struggles to land, and just deflates anticlimactically in the end. It’s never a positive sign when the performer has to come back on stage and explain to the audience that there isn’t any more; the show has ended.
Standup, of course, can get away with such things because the comedian hasn’t promised a story. The issue, I think, with Murmuration is that its genre-bridging accomplishment breeds expectations: the story, rather than just being a wire frame for zingers, is actually good and demands a more fitting resolution.
Even with this misstep, Murmuration is an enjoyable hour of off-kilter sensibility and sharp observations, with pitch-perfect delivery. It’s a worthwhile addition to your Fringe lineup.
