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Benny Shakes: Slugageddon!

 
Paul Fisher Cockburn Review by Paul Fisher Cockburn 3 Published: 1 Aug 2025 Pleasance Courtyard Show Dates: 30 Jul 2025-11 Aug 2025

“Why are there potatoes there?” Not a question you usually hear before a show – even on the Fringe – but it’s an indication of the natural curiosity of a particularly young, uninhibited audience.

That he’s able to keep the show moving, and his younger audience members engaged, is impressive.

Until, that is, the show starts with a CBeebies-style animation about Benny Shakes’ garden and his escalating slug problem. Suddenly the kids become very shy indeed. Thankfully, Benny has a child-like air that helps him relate well to under-eights – especially once he breaks the ice by throwing soft-toy vegetables at the audience and inviting us all to throw them back into a large bag acting as a symbolic compost heap: “the only time you can throw things at a disabled person,” he ad libs.

Benny’s adaptability certainly comes in useful when, on this particular occasion, the multimedia elements of the show break down – ultimately requiring a full “switch off/switch on” reboot by the tech crew. That he’s able to keep the show moving, and his younger audience members engaged, is impressive. It also suggests he perhaps doesn’t always need quite so many visual bells and whistles to do his job well.

Slugageddon doesn’t attempt to hide its educational remit: on-screen game Poo! Or Boo!, for example, offers audience members simple yes/no choices about what should or shouldn’t be put in a compost heap. Its most subtle lesson, though, is the least remarked upon – that we’re easily relating with somebody who happens to have cerebral palsy.

(As for the potatoes? They’re part of a musical instrument. Obviously.)

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The Blurb:

Slugs, slugs and more slugs! Can you help Benny defeat the slug army with a piano made of vegetables, delicious compost and a final showdown with the boss? Interactive and multimedia games, plenty of facts about biodiversity and of course, slugs. With some actually really great gardening tips for the grown-ups... Best Kid's Show Nominee – UK Kids' Comedy Festival. 'Benny Shakes is a great comic, end of story' **** (StageSideUK.co.uk). UK Winner – ND Review Disabled Champions Awards.