Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Low Down
Pongo protects Pete from the outside world, but Pongo’s violence is coming round to call.
Review
Two brothers share a home, one that is full of dark secrets and one of pre-match football violence in the case of older brother Pongo. The play begins when he arrives home, his hand covered in blood- he may have gone too far in beating someone up and may now be in real trouble. His younger brother Pete, with special needs, has been sheltered from the outside world by Pongo, kept “safe” within the walls of the flat. Something has happened that has caused this, and it transpires that the death of their mother at an early age has scarred and moulded their routines, keeping the outside world at bay, Pongo’s rage finding its outlet in the football violence.
With their sibling tensions, with Pongo having control, their petty arguments and, most importantly, their routines, we are in the territory of Enda Walsh and early Martin McDonagh. However, Mikey Bunett’s strong script avoids being derivative by it’s witty and emotional dialogue, and two sequences that lift the play onto a higher plain. The brother’s clearly have their strong rituals, one of them being playing Who Want’s To Be a Millionaire. As Pete, Sean Langtree exudes a nervous energy, needing his brother’s approval, but he adopts a different persona as the gameshow host. Using the quiz book, he seeks to find out what has happened at the match, and he slips into the role convincingly, we believe this is a routine they often do- when Pongo permits. The second is when Pete exits and returns wearing their late mother’s dress- again, something that just happens. They then perform a heartbreaking dance to John Lennon’s Mother, the lyrics, “Mother, you left me, but I never left you”, the words and music holding us in our seats, so much of their love and loss being said in the unsaid. It’s a beautiful, tender, naturalistic sequence.
The acting is of the highest quality, and the script leads us towards a genuine cliff hanger. Beautifully directed by Grace Ava Baker, it is a perfectly judged and nuanced piece, taking us firmly into the brother’s world, only letting us go in the final moments. Standing above many plays, I highly recommend you give it an hour of your time.
