Edinburgh Fringe 2026
It Happened on a Tuesday
CTRL-ALT Productions
Venue: theSpace @ Niddry Street
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
An office manager is thrown into a panic when a large sum of money goes missing in broad daylight. He immediately suspects foul play and demands each of his employees recount their movements of the day before.
Review
This play has all the characters of a classic workplace sitcom. The Boss (unnamed throughout) is in over his head being pressured by his superiors for more profit in a dying industry, and is on the verge of a breakdown when he learns about the theft. We meet the chirpy, well-meaning, if rather ditzy receptionist, the office jokester whose comedy repertoire is 90% inappropriate comments, and even the “very very rich and important” higher-ups who seem to have taken fashion inspiration from the monopoly man.
As the show unfolds, we learn a lot about the relationships between this group of people who see each other every day, who know each other’s quirks and routines but maybe haven’t always managed to grasp the bigger picture.
This script is fast-paced, skittish, choc-a-bloc with physical and verbal gags which were delivered with excellent comedic timing by the whole cast. It’s evident that the writer and director has a great eye for visualising a gag, and the cast held nothing back on the delivery. The performance space was small and the auditorium held maybe 50 seats, but by the energy and eccentricity coming out of the cast, you would think they were performing for a thousand-seat theatre. The Boss in particular is a brilliant comedic actor who kept the audience rapt with his sharp quips, growing exasperation and flawlessly executed forward rolls. Himself and the New Guy (also unnamed) also made an excellent comedic duo, and the Sherlock Holmes gag had the entire audience cracking up.
Any script which proposes to tell the same story several times over from different points of view has its work cut out, and this one delivered. It was clean and tight with every callback adding layers to the story, all culminating in a big reveal to tie everything together. There was the occasional puzzle piece which didn’t make it into the final conclusion, but sometimes in mystery stories, some things truly are unconnected. This can also be attributed to the short run time and simply proves that this show has the potential to expand its script.
The ending shocked me when it came around – I didn’t realise 50 minutes had passed already. I wanted to know more, delve deeper into the mysteries and relationships between these characters; it felt like we had just begun to scratch the surface. I believe this play has the potential to continue far beyond its current conclusion, adding more layers to the characters, and being bold in pushing the physical comedy even further and grander.
