For the first ten minutes of this show I really wasn't sure I was on board with anything that was happening. Why were we throwing plastic balls at one of the performers and watching them walk around the stage chanting ‘We are Vikings’ holding a tiny cardboard boat and wooden spoons as oars? I thought it was going to be a disaster, a one star review, and the family behind me certainly agreed, leaving after barely 15 minutes. But then I decided to throw away my expectations and inhibitions and just join in. And that's when it became amazing.
Dan Lees and Neil Forst are completely bonkers and absolutely ridiculous, and their ‘extremely silly history lesson’ is actually just an hour of them being their crazy selves onstage. Finding Hadrian someone to love during the construction of his wall, learning that Shakespeare really is the answer to everything and that anxiety is what’s holding us back are all fascinating elements of this lesson, and you’ll undoubtedly walk away feeling truly enlightened.
There’s a lot of corpsing, particularly on the part of the substitute teacher, but it doesn’t really matter, because everyone knows this show isn’t about quality of acting, or script, or, well, anything really. It’s about having fun, which you will, especially if you’ve already had a few drinks. You’ll learn to speak dragon and, if you’re really lucky, you might even get to spank the headmaster. What more could you want from a Fringe show than that?
The Establishment: Fool Britannia is on at 17:30 at Heroes @ Boteco until August 26th, excluding the 14th and 21st. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the EdFringe website.
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