Set in the wonderfully open, socially-distanced and drinks-to-your-seats Garden Theatre of theSpaceuk’s Symposium Hall, the a capella group Semi-Toned return to the Fringe with fifty minutes of sheer joy and silliness.
fifty minutes of sheer joy and silliness.
The lads caper and cavort around the stage with archetypal undergraduate swagger, replete in burgundy smoking jackets, delivering self-deprecating (or are they?) jokes, crooning, belting and beatboxing with great style and charm.
The show would likely be stronger without the ‘plot’, for although the linking passages are delivered with a cheery self-awareness and do serve to progress the programme, they nevertheless remain a comically slim diversion from the main event of kicking back and enjoying some banging tunes.
And some great tunes they are: for the team have curated a show of magnificent fun across a range of genres which is guaranteed to appeal to anyone from four to a hundred and four. There is a lovely sense of getting to know the group, and this focus on perceived personalities invites the audience to invest more emotionally as the hits rack up. There isn’t a duff number in the set, although Impossible Year and the seduction of a member of the audience stand out particularly in the memory.
It may have been an impossible year for us all, and the challenges faced by performers have of course been legion, but for as long as shows like this keep hitting the mark the future of the Fringe is assured.
