When boredom threatens at the Fringe, a hero will rise. Operating from his not-so-secret portakabin base, that hero is James Wilson-Taylor, on a quest to prove his status as the one true choice to take on the legacy of the Caped Crusader; to show that he is…
A final Bat-musical medley is worth the price of admission alone.
Cards on the table, this is exactly my kind of subject. I’m geek and proud of it, ready to snigger along to any and all obscure in-jokes woven throughout the show. That said, Wilson-Taylor’s real triumph is taking a theme like this which, for a non-nerd, could be alienating and, through sheer force of personality and well-crafted material, bring the entire audience in on the joke.
With an unceasing energy he demonstrates the tried and tested formula for a Batman movie, dissects the abomination which is Batman and Robin and takes us through on a whistle-stop tour through a rogues gallery of Batman’s lesser known foes such as Kite-Man or the terrifying Crazy Quilt.
All of this is rounded off with a final Bat-musical medley which, frankly, is worth the price of admission alone. This is interspersed with extremely funny interjections from the show’s tech (who has successfully maintained his secret identity as I don’t think he was ever named) a highlight being a puppet-led rendition of Rockin’ Robin, highlighting the deeply dodgy position occupied by the boy wonder.
