The weird, wacky and wonderful all come together in this fantastically strange new show. Written and performed by Clem Garritty and Oliver Jones,
The Terrible Tale of the Twiddly Widdlies is an imaginative piece that shows how effective multimedia performances can be.
The piece consists of three comic poems that each tell the story of multiple, well-constructed characters. Garritty and Jones' writing resembles a darker, ruder Dr. Seuss with infectious rhythms and bouncy rhymes. We delve into their macabre imagination as two faceless, bandaged narrators lead us through tales of friendship, nostalgia and utter carnage. Both Jones and Garritty are incredibly engaging performers, even without their faces, and the chemistry between them is electric. Their performances brilliantly complement each other and it is a pleasure to see them work together and keep us giggling throughout.
At times, the humour does not reach the levels of hilarity that it could. Some gags are repeated and drawn out a little too long and thus begin to feel a little stale and predictable. For example, a fun fact gag on the radio is repeated a number of times and, by the final punchline, barely secures a snigger.
The truly impressive feature of this production is the innovative animation used throughout. When playing different characters, the duo have different facial features projected onto their bandaged heads which works very well. As the stage is completely bare apart from the performers and two chairs, each scene is set with an elaborate animated background that makes you feel as if you are seeing a live action graphic novel in its flawless execution. The Terrible Tale of the Twiddly Widdlies is an imaginative piece that shows how effective multimedia performances can be. This is certainly a unique highlight of the Fringe this year.
