Fringe review: CLUB NVRLND, Assembly Checkpoint

Review

Aug 21

At the Edinburgh Fringe, you can see theatre in all shapes, sizes and forms. From the intimate and heartfelt to the down right ridiculous. This week, we took a trip to Club NVRLND, a new musical with a book by Jack Holden, well known for writing smash hits Cruise and KENREX. This is a nightclub rave experience which, if you feel comfortable in a club environment, could just be your favourite thing to see at the Fringe. There is bar open throughout the show; we recommend the mystery alcohol slushies at the bar….two sips and we thought we really were in Neverland!

The premise is that you, the audience, are inside the club of Club NVRLND and as the night parties on, you see the drama unfold. The club is hosted by Tiger Lily, played with likability and pizazz by Le Fil, with Tinkerbell as the DJ, and (in her words) a general dogsbody played by Lizzie Wofford who has killer vocals, as do every single cast member. This show is a jukebox musical featuring, at least for this 33 year old, ABSOLUTE BANGERS from pop stars such as Britney Spears and Cascada and many, many more.

After a few high energy, crowd pleasing opening numbers, we get the arrival of Wendy in wedding dress (played by Martha Kirby) who exhibits world class vocals throughout the evening and - for us - is a personal standout. The Club is run by none other than Peter Pan (Thomas Grant), a guitar playing 29 year old who is VERY scared of turning 30….oh and he’s addicted to fairy dust…everyone’s on fairy dust. A good nod to the challenges of working in the club industry.

Pan owes the crocodile money or he will be shut down, then none other than James Hook comes in, flaunting impressive abs and a red trilby to stir the pot and try to take NVRLND for himself. Matthew Gent is the perfect villain. Suzu Sakai’s costumes would rival any costume design you’ll see at the Fringe this year and are perfect for all of the characters. Tiger Lily wows the audience with every costume change.

This all sounds pretty crazy right? But it works, it really works and by the end of the show, the audience are enthralled and the bangers keep on coming. We genuinely didn’t want the show to end.

This is not going to be a show for everyone. But be it the quality of the acting and vocals on stage, the SUPERB songs choices, or just the blending of the whole experience, we are absolutely sold. We think what makes the Fringe special is that you can see shows that perhaps you wouldn’t usually see in a standard theatre environment, and the way Steven Kunis utilises this unique space makes you feel like you could be at the Bridge Theatre in London keeping the audience completely engaged throughout.

Bravo to the whole cast and creative team for creating the most innovative show at this year’s Fringe.

PANtastic!

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: James Edge

Club NVRLND plays at Edinburgh Festival Fringe until 24 August, with further info here.