Dreamgun: Film Reads is back at the Fringe and serving up the usual night of nostalgia, banter and chaos! Tackling The Silence of the Lambs, they cooked up a script that’s true to the original, while weaving in cheesy jokes, pop culture references, and very literal interpretations of the material — for example, did you know that putting someone’s head in a jar is illegal?
Gale force winds (of laughter)
The setting for this kind of show is very relaxed, with most of the performers seeing the rewritten script for the first time when they get up to read their lines. The Dreamgun crew genuinely enjoy each other’s performances, and clearly appreciate the audience's reactions enough to break or comment on the script commentary in a very meta way. The whole experience feels like watching a 90s movie with friends, enjoying the crappy CGI and dated hairstyles while adding your own modern commentary on the lack of female characters and abundance of plot holes.
It was a great showing from the cast. Special shout out to Gavin Drea who really leaned into his Hannibal Lector impersonation, although turning to the audience and asking “What the fuck am I talking about?” may have been slightly out of character — but it did earn him the biggest laugh of the night. And, as always, Ronan Carey’s soothing narrative voice kept the ship from keeling over in gale force winds (of laughter). Drea and Stephen Colfer did a great job with the script, proving that those people who talk through movies can still provide a lot of value to society.
A really reliable hour of entertainment from Dreamgun, and always worth the ticket price!
