EXPERIMENT HUMAN - REVIEW - BRIGHTON FRINGE

Bizarre and hilarious – Experiment Human welcomes you for a night like no other.

To be honest, when I found out I was going to be watching a show centred around the idea of an alien species kidnapping Benedict Cumberbatch I wasn’t really sure what I was letting myself in for.

Experiment Human is brought to Rotunda Theatre’s Brighton Fringe by Hooky Productions (one of several shows centring around their fictional Monkion species experiencing humanity. It revolves around the Monkion trying to learn how to keep Benedict Cumberbatch alive and happy within the attic, whilst roping in their unlikely audience of human subjects to help them figure out the human experience once and for all.

Featuring the comedic duo of Rosa and Maya Hallpike combined with high energy, quick wit and lots of physical theatre; Experiment Human is one of the most unique and unusual stories being told on stage.

For the first five minutes of this show – I really wasn’t sure whether this show was going to be my cup of tea. The show revels in its abstract and Artaudian-inspired style and with all the obscure movement, noises, and audience participation – I wasn’t sure what to make of the characters worshipping the almighty Cumberbatch.

However – what sets this show aside from any other bizarre theatrical experience is the heart and humour that the Hallpike sisters bring to their performance.

Relying on plenty of improvised moments – including making jokes about technical difficulties and disruptive traffic noises from outside, the sisters are perfectly present; always on top of every joke and moment and having the audience in the palm of their hand, being willing to play into their silliness.

Their comedic timing is exemplary – calling back to earlier moments with ease and creating shared jokes with the audience throughout. For a 60-minute show – the relationship that the two actors can build with the audience is astounding. I was enamoured by the strangeness and quirkiness of the whole experience.

Despite facing an audience which was admittedly rather timid and awkward, to begin with, the infectious energy of both Rosa and Maya allowed the audience to relax and revel in the unusual. It felt like an interactive macabre clown show!

This show certainly isn’t for everyone. You have to be willing to commit to the strange energy and excitement that the Hallpike sisters initiate. But if you are on board with the strange concept, you are guaranteed an evening full of laughter and oddness that will leave you puzzling about your own existence for hours afterwards.

Visit Hooky Productions here to find out more!

Find all our Brighton Fringe reviews here!

{🎟 AD – PR invite – Tickets were gifted in exchange for an honest review}

A PISSEDMAS CAROL – REVIEW – LEICESTER SQUARE
by Amy Rye
The infamous Sh!t Faced Showtime are back in London with a festive edition, they have taken Dickens’ classic and put a drunken spin on it. The formula is the same as other iterations of the Shi!t Faced shows, one member of the cast has been boozing, and this time it is John Milton who plays Scrooge. Before the show, half a bottle of Jim Beam, some wine, and beer have been consumed in the previous 4 hours. The rest of the cast, try to keep the show on track, also aided by James Murfitt as the compere, Charles Dickens. The … More A PISSEDMAS CAROL – REVIEW – LEICESTER SQUARE
A CHRISTMAS CAROL – REVIEW – ALEXANDRA PALACE
by Ellie Preston
Spine-tingling yet heart-warming, Mark Gatiss’s retelling of A Christmas Carol truly encapsulates the haunting atmosphere of a Victorian ghost story, balanced out with enough humour so as to capture the festive season. Led by Keith Allen as Scrooge, with Peter Forbes as Marley, this show is perfect for Christmas viewing. The set design by Paul Wills is instantly captivating, containing stacks of metal cabinets towering over the theatre, moveable by the cast to allow space for other central props like doors, beds and tables. In addition to this, the puppetry design by Matthew Forbes is incredibly clever, adding creepy elements to the show such … More A CHRISTMAS CAROL – REVIEW – ALEXANDRA PALACE
A WOMAN WALKS INTO A BANK – REVIEW – THEATRE503
by Tom Carrao
The title of this winner of Theatre 503’s 2023 International Playwriting Award by Roxy Cook may seem like the set-up to a joke, but the narrative that unspools is instead an affectionate, gently barbed and at base quite sobering portrait of three ordinary souls (and one restless feline) adrift in modern Moscow. There is much affable, satirical back-and-forth commentary on the accepted myths & stereotypes of the Russian spirit & soul. Beset by the indignities of age, opportunism, graft, fatigue, the characters orbit one another, doomed to play out their roles in an unjust, predatory and saturnine universe. The play opens … More A WOMAN WALKS INTO A BANK – REVIEW – THEATRE503
PETER PAN GOES WRONG – REVIEW – LYRIC THEATRE
by Amy Rye
Peter Pan Goes Wrong first premiered in London at the Pleasance Theatre in 2013, and earlier this year the show made its Broadway debut. Now the production is back in the West End for the Christmas season. Following on from The Play That Goes Wrong, in this production, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan is staged by the fictitious Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society and goes awry, disastrously so. The meta-comedy is filled with slapstick comedy, sometimes the humour may be predictable and silly, but it’s universally funny throughout – there is something for everyone here, and the laughs come thick and fast … More PETER PAN GOES WRONG – REVIEW – LYRIC THEATRE
GHOST STORIES BY CANDLELIGHT – REVIEW – SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE
by George Rennie
Drawing heavily from the classic canon of the British supernatural, HighTide’s trio of contemporary Gothic narratives uses traditional storytelling formats to address contemporary themes. Directed by Elayce Ismail, reverent musical interludes accompany tales of apparitions and nighttime conjurings that speak of women from the East of England. Unfortunately, the effect is less chilling and more lightweight, with conventional structures, predictable plot twists and an over-reliance on external forces to drive narrative shoring up some of the less relatable aspects of the genre. Nicola Werenowska’s The Beach House, perhaps the cleanest of the three tales, tells of a mother and daughter’s … More GHOST STORIES BY CANDLELIGHT – REVIEW – SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE