Fringe Review: KEVIN!!!!!, Forth at Pleasance Courtyard

Recent Cutbacks are one of those companies who have found a special, completely unique form of theatrical storytelling, and we are absolutely obsessed. 

We saw their Jurassic Park piece, Hold On To Your Butts, last year and cried with laughter, so when we heard they were bringing KEVIN!!!!! to the Fringe, their very own Recent Cutbacks-style retelling of Home Alone, we knew we had to see it. But we genuinely had no idea what to expect. 

We walked in and, alongside their usual Foley work table, found a giant projector screen and a blue screen sitting to the side. What in the technological happenings was this?! Genius, Besties. That's what. 

Using just a couple of phones, live cameras, miniature sets, homemade puppets and a frankly ridiculous amount of coordination, four performers and a Foley artist recreate Home Alone in front of us, condensing the whole film into an hour. The result is some of the biggest laughs you’ll have at the Fringe this year. 

The performers aren't just acting and singing. They’re creating dozens of characters, moving sets, repositioning cameras, manipulating puppets and constantly rebuilding the world around them, often seemingly at the exact same time. They barely get a second to breathe It must be exhausting! It is also some of the most impressive storytelling we’ve seen at the Fringe. 

The genius is that it all looks like they're simply playing. The tiny sets, dolls' houses, puppets and phones make everything feel delightfully homemade, but underneath that playful appearance is an enormous amount of precision. Every movement has clearly been meticulously worked out, yet it never feels like we're watching the mechanics of a machine. 

It feels like play and that’s what makes it so much fun. 

The comedy beats land again and again, and watching the performers throw themselves from one character to another while simultaneously trying to keep the entire miniature production moving is genuinely astonishing. 

We can’t wait to see what Recent Cutbacks do next, and we're only sad that we can't make it to their Fly, You Fools! Lord of the Rings parody too. Lord of the Rings in an hour? What could possibly go wrong?! 

With so many iconic films out there, Recent Cutbacks could keep doing this for years and we would happily turn up every single time. 

They have developed a theatrical language that is completely their own, and watching them find new ways to push it further is one of the great pleasures of the Fringe.

Thank you, Recent Cutbacks, for now becoming such an integral part of our Fringe experience. 

Another Home(alone) run for recent cutbacks! 

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: James Edge

KeVIN!!!!! plays at Edinburgh Festival Fringe until 31 Aug, with further info here.