ABSOLUT Fringe 2012 | 'The Trick' and 'Burning Love' An Evening of Grand Guignol | Carpet Theatre

Star Rating: 2.5/5

Venue: Boys School at Smock Alley Theatre
Review by: David O’Shaughnessy

ABSOLUT(ely): schlock horror frivolity
In a nutshell: B-movie style horror double bill with the focus more on laughs than scares
Best for: fans of cheesy horror movie sequels
Not for: those seeking a genuine scare

The Boys School at Smock Alley Theatre is the perfect setting for a good scare, with the vaulted church ceiling and old wall of the former building cutting an intimidating figure in the space. Unfortunately, ‘The Twist’ and ‘Burning Love’ do little to use the haunting set for any real scares, their fare being comedy more than horror.

First of the double act, ‘The Trick’ is set in what must be Dublins worst strip club, with a bumbling inner city lap-dancer forced to entertain a serial killer as he avoids the police. The scenes escalate to cartoon level farce, with the killer falling asleep as the would-be heroine tries to escape, and he is ultimately apprehended by a deft blow to the groin from the club owner. ‘Burning Love’ switches the setting to a treatment facility as a potential South Dublin love-rat recovers from an acid attack in the care of disinterested staff, only to be visited by his attacker/former girlfriend and  then carries out his revenge.

There’s no real meat to either piece, and the jokes seem to play on social stereotypes rather than any real comedy. There were plenty of laughs from the audience, but whether it was laughing because the show was funny, or laughing because the show was so trashy is undecided.

Story by EI Team | 09:00 | Tuesday 18th September 2012 | Theatre

380

Comments

• No comments have been posted for this article yet. Be the first!

Log in to leave a comment

Login or register to leave a comment

Enter your email:

Enter Password: Lost Your Password?