Fringe Review: SPRAYWATCH, Lower Theatre at theSpace @ Niddry St

Review

Aug 16

When you come to the Fringe, it’s always important to see a good mix of things: musicals, plays, and there’s always a plethora of ridiculous parodies to tuck into too. This year, one particular show caught our eye, and it’s nothing to do with the fact the artwork is basically someone’s bottom, though that’s certainly one way to grab people’s attention when there are so many shows on!

What caught our eye was Low Fat Productions’ first ever show, Spraywatch, a musical parody comparing itself to the likes of Barbie and The Book of Mormon. It sounded right up our street!

When seeing shows like this, you never know whether they’re going to be a poorly put-together parody (which we’ve seen plenty of) or something with a bit more substance, so we headed to theSpace @ Niddry Street, one of our favourite venues at the Fringe to find out.

The story follows a lifeguard simply known as The Lifeguard, who works on a beach in Santa Monica where they run in slow motion and everything they do is to be one thing… sexy. Remind you of a certain show?

The Lifeguard gets fired after developing a spot of cellulite on her leg and, heartbroken, decides to move to the lowest-ranked beach in the world: a place called Spray. Her mission is to turn the beach around, whip the local lifeguards into shape and prove her worth. But Spray isn’t quite the sleepy seaside town it first appears to be, and there’s something much darker lurking beneath the surface.

Now, the smartest thing writer Hywel Evans did here was base Spray in a British town. I think if the town had been in another generic American location, the accents would have landed less strongly with the audience and the whole thing could have had that washed up-Barbie feel to its detriment. Instead, we had Scottish, Geordie, Scouse and Northern accents, which is a huge part of the show’s charm.

The most delightful thing about this show is the original songs, which are actually very good, well written and certainly earworms. This may sound weird out of context, but this reviewer walked home singing ‘You Can F*** Off’ all the way home afterwards!

The songs are witty and comedic, and manage to blend the American and British singing styles together really well. The show’s score is written and composed by Evans, with the production deliberately using an 80s/90s pop-rock flavour to fit its inspiration.

The cast all put on stellar performances too and are completely dedicated to the absurdity and chaos. They start the show by gyrating in the audience’s faces and making eye contact at the same time with total conviction. They work the audience incredibly well throughout the show, which is another reason it has such charm.

Izabella Webb soars as The Lifeguard, the lead role. She has charisma, charm and great vocals to boot… or should we say to swimsuit?

Jamie Knapper was energy incarnate as Victor/Twitch and incredibly entertaining to watch.

Abbie Ashall gives a cracking performance as Rose, a role clearly meant for someone of a slightly older age, but she manages to bring a groundedness to the character that means you’re completely onboard.

Ant McGinley is the comedy standout of the show as Fred, whose Northern charm, foul mouth and fear of crabs has the audience in stitches.

And finally, Natalie Hayes in the role of Denise has fantastic comedy timing and some of the best vocals we’ve heard at the Fringe this year.

The story is cohesive, consistent and knows what it is, and we loved how it made the set and props ooze Fringe. Deck chairs become door signs, windbreakers become light up sticks, walking through doors? Forget about it. If you know, you know.

It would be easy to sit here and give the show a Fringe five and say nothing more of it, but because we genuinely think this show has legs beyond this current outing, it’s important we highlight a few moments that could do with some cleaning.

Without spoilers, the character with the big villainous turn comes completely out of the blue. Whilst it is explained later, we think seeing that character transition more gradually from love interest to villain would allow them to properly earn their big ‘F*** YOU’ number.

Also, a few of the songs feel like they could be cut down and take away from the flow of the piece. There are moments where it felt like, okay, here’s another four-minute number, when the story perhaps needs to keep moving.

Finally, yes, this is a parody, but it’s a well-written one. With that in mind, we should think about the stakes of the piece. When we start hitting the climax and the characters are in danger, perhaps there’s a way to blend some of those stakes into the Murder She Wrote number, so it doesn’t completely take away from the tension and if anything will heighten the comedy more.

But these are notes we’re giving because we genuinely think this show has somewhere to go.

Overall, we absolutely loved it.

Low Fat Productions have created something ridiculously joyful, properly funny and packed with genuinely good musical theatre. It’s a first show with plenty of room to grow, but it already has the most important thing: an identity of its own.

We genuinely think Spraywatch could be one of the most uplifting things you see at the Fringe this year.

Spraywatch is a tidal triumph, Besties!

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: James Edge

Spraywatch plays at Edinburgh Festival Fringe until 29 Aug, with further info here.