Plumpy’nut encapsulates all those parts of the DIY ‘let’s throw together a show’ side of fringe comedy. The ridiculous costumes, bad dancing, extended pointless scenes, chaotic, under-rehearsed scenarios, silly cardboard cutout props, amateur delivery and haphazard direction made me pity this young duo who are clearly up at the Fringe just to have a laugh and get laid.
Larter and Brice are an endearing pair who are probably aware their show is simple amateur madness - at least, one would hope so.
Plumpy’nut Heroes follows the story of a lonely farmer who dreams of owning a pig. He is told that all he has to do is believe and suddenly one appears. The pig and the farmer bond but in a Rake’s Progress scenario, the pig is lured to London by a Fagin-like character who trains the pig to pickpocket, resulting in the pig being sent to jail. Larter and Brice spend a lot of time running around in circles for no apparent reason, trying to fill in badly timed costume changes with dreadful ad-libs. The show was so silly that I just had to laugh; I kept watching just to see how they would keep it together on this already fraying shoestring.
There were only a couple of half-successful attempts at comedy, such as the appearance of the Hasselhoff Comet (a photo of David Hasselhoff stuck to a kite paraded through the audience) as well as the start of the song ‘Inner City Kitty’ - both each had a kernel of comedy value but these quickly fizzled out. The show, full of half hearted ideas and time wasting needs fifteen minutes cut from it, some solid direction and some clever political or satirical references within the madness to give it some grounding or reason for its surreal execution if it is to serve even a hint of a metaphorical message. Plumpy'nut Heroes was only slightly better than a pair of ten year old presenting their parents with an afternoon improvisation on a rainy day. That said, Larter and Brice are an endearing pair who are probably aware their show is simple amateur madness - at least, one would hope so.
