Romp is far from undercooked in this searing heat
The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much High-energy whodunnit ★★★★★
FrANKLy, the endeavour and energy required by the cast of Voloz Collective to deliver up their vaudevevillan brand of physical theatre in this searing heat for the company’s cinematic, conspiracy theory thriller deserves a round of applause on its own.
But as it stands I imagine plenty will be forthcoming anyway during its run at the Fringe for a show that is a lot of inventive fun.
The whodunnit wears its cinematic homage styles on its sleeve. Hitchcock’s North by Northwest is the most obvious touchstone. That and The 39 Steps – both the classic movie and Patrick Barclay’s hit stage parody comedy. (Though bits of James Bond, film noir and even a tiny whiff of contemporary Western are tossed into the mix).
And if the plot has more holes in it than a block of Swiss cheese attacked by a plague of moths running through its convoluted narrative, as it follows Frenchman roger, working in advertising in New york in 1963 as he becomes embroiled in a full-tilt international espionage plot taking in the Kennedy assassination, it matters not a jot.
Playing with fact and fiction, the cast go at their tale full tilt and the set pieces have a commendable physical dexterity. And its laughs per minute are ticked off with some fine set pieces and a great degree of comic nuggets of gold. When it comes to shades of dark and light, James Ellroy this ain’t.
Fast paced, and offering up plenty of scope for the five-strong cast to shine (including the musical accompaniment on keyboards), it’s a travel brochure pot-boiler romp – New york; Paris; London – with some deft acrobatic flourishes and a winning visual look. One whose tongue is firmly in its cheek throughout. A cat also makes a recurring appearance. Is it Schrödinger’s? I’ll leave that to audiences to decide.
The line ‘The fish is undercooked’ is also my favourite conspiracy thriller codeword so far on the Fringe, though, to be fair, so far that boils down to a small pool of one.
Action-packed, buoyed by its own internal convoluted storytelling logic and stab at geopolitics, The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much is an entertaining slice of Fringe fare that I imagine will enjoy a shelf life beyond Edinburgh.
■ Pleasance Dome until Aug 27