Back to School - Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012
Role : Mr Mayhew - Art Teacher
"… it works admirably, with the committedly eccentric performances of the teaching staff provoking committed mischievousness from the student body in return….In any case, it’s the batty cast of teachers on the ground who deserve the merit marks."
"Uproarious, site specific experience...Brilliantly conceived " ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"by far one of the most entertaining performances on this year's Fringe...Back to School is an interactive few hours with a full license for the audience to act as silly as they like" ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"This is an entirely interactive, site-specific piece. However, the devisers are canny enough to know audiences can be rubbish at playing their part, so they have built in plot-lines, dotty school teachers interacting and actors playing one or two pupils to keep the thing bubbling along." ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
There’s no need to be nervous about your first day back at school – just pack your sense of adventure and be on time for class. This is not theatre designed to shock or force you unwillingly you into new territory. It’s silly, fun, entertaining, and until we get a grip on time travel might be the closest you get to going back to school any time soon. don’t forget in addition to the easy-on-the-eye, thoroughly amusing teaching team, this school has a tuck shop that sells booze. ★ ★ ★ ★
"The show hinges on uninhibited audience participation and because it is so improvised, there could conceivably be a new show everyday. The actors adapt seamlessly though, thinking on their feet in some of the most bizarre and unpredictable circumstances." ★ ★ ★ ★
"Back to School is a site-specific theatrical experience, and going to school is nothing like interactive theatre – but something about me bought into the whole experience enough to feel a sliver of pre-school anxiety." ★ ★ ★ ★
Not once did any of the performers – teachers or students – come close to breaking character; which was not so much impressive because they were doing any sort of magnificent acting, but because there is something extremely disconcerting about having a one-on-one conversation with someone who gives absolutely nothing away to indicate the absurdity of the situation. ★ ★ ★ ★
The entire building has been transformed into a school and throughout the day we go to a number of “lessons” in small groups where our teachers struggle to keep the class on track and eventually everything descends into chaos, much like real school life. ★ ★ ★ ★
"The number 1 wacky show on the Fringe"
The cast were immaculately always in character, although it was sometimes difficult to pinpoint who was in the cast which made it all the more real.