Fringe Review: LINUS KARP WAS HIT WITH AN UMBRELLA, Friesian at Underbelly, Bristo Square
Photo credit: Danny Kaan
Awkward Productions are the King and Queen of the Edinburgh Fringe, with Linus Karp, Lady Di herself, naturally taking the crown as Queen.
You can see just how much the Fringe means to them, and frankly, the Fringe is richer for having them back year after year with their completely unique brand of straight faced comedy and poised, calm collected storytelling. By now, we think they’ve become masters of Fringe theatre. Watching them grow in confidence each year, while their identity as a company becomes clearer and clearer, is one of the great joys of coming back to Edinburgh.
This year, however, they’ve given us something considerably more personal.
Linus Karp Was Hit With An Umbrella tells the story of the homophobic attack Linus experienced in Soho in 2024, when they were struck over the head with an umbrella while walking with Joseph. The show follows what happened afterwards, the police investigation, the emotional impact and the questions that remained unanswered, before imagining the confrontation and justice Linus never got in real life.
And somehow, Linus has taken something so horrible and turned it into something funny, hopeful, incredibly queer and surprisingly joyful.
The show deals with queer hate crime and the lasting effects of trauma without ever losing that wonderfully deadpan Awkward Productions style. Linus has the audience in the palm of their hand from the moment the show begins, and it's genuinely impressive how they can tell such a difficult story in such a gentle way while somehow keeping the energy alive throughout.
The production itself is impressively ambitious for a Fringe show, with a set recreating the Soho street where the attack happened.
It's also a delight to see Joseph Martin remain such an integral part of the show. Their creative partnership is such an important part of Awkward Productions, and here it feels particularly meaningful given Joseph was there when the real-life attack happened and has been part of everything that followed, and we must say that after hearing how heroic and caring he acted when the attack happened, we weren't the only audience member to swoon slightly.
Our one moment that didn't quite fire was Sandra the puppet appearing from within the audience. We LOVE that Awkward Productions have developed their own very particular theatrical language, after all, we've already witnessed a blow-up Queen Camilla, but in this particular show, Sandra felt like a bit of a detour from a story that was already strong enough without her.
Then we reach the ending, and without spoiling it, Linus gets their moment of confrontation and chooses to take something positive from an experience that could very easily have been allowed to define them. Though the moment where it looked like Linus was about to kiss their attacker might win our award for biggest belly laugh moment at the Fringe. Out of context this sounds weird, but trust us, it is hilarious!
And then we get a VERY queer ending.
Tom Holland, eat your heart out.
What could have been a show consumed by anger instead becomes a celebration of queer love, resilience and choosing to keep living loudly. Even better, we are handed cards as we leave with little pieces of queer goodness to take into the real world and actually put into practice.
Also, after the amount of promotion that Soho Theatre gets during this show, they absolutely should programme it, or we will be writing a formal complaint.
Linus Karp Was Hit With An Umbrella is another reminder that Awkward Productions can seemingly make a show about just about anything and somehow make it completely, unmistakably theirs.
It's personal, it's tender and it's bloody brilliant.
Awkward Productions remain Fringe royalty. Long may they reign.
***** Five stars
Reviewed by: James Edge
