An Unexpected Hiccup
★★★★☆ Joyous
Zoo Southside (Venue 82): Fri 2 – Sat 10 Aug 2024
Review by Hugh Simpson
An Unexpected Hiccup, Lung Ha and Plutôt La Vie’s production, which was first staged under COVID conditions, has been revived to herald the new Lung Ha touring company. And what a welcome revival it is.
Michael Duke’s script, based on a story by Plutôt La Vie’s Ian Cameron, tells of Murdo, a traveller who is forced by bad weather to seek shelter in a house inhabited by five eccentric siblings. They are apparently waiting for their father to die, and a lawyer – or a long-lost relative – to arrive. Comic misunderstandings, outright mistruths and bizarre happenings ensue.
Tim Licata with the company in An Unexpected Hiccup. Pic Peter Dibdin
This may not be the most original tale, but is told with relish and stands in a great tradition of knowingly nonsensical absurdity – the title certainly calls to mind N.F. Simpson’s A Resounding Tinkle.
Murdo is played by Plutôt’s Tim Licata as the (marginally) more predictable centre of the comedy, and it is a performance of real presence and comic physicality, never pushing himself forward too much but always reacting with pin-sharp delicacy.
The siblings are Lung Ha’s Emma Clark, Emma McCaffrey, Nicola Tuxworth, Keith Watson and Gavin Yule, and there is a combination of glee and grimness in each character. There are certainly stand-out moments, such as when Clark first gives voice to emotion in song, some of McCaffrey’s more wickedly deadpan asides, or Yule’s storytelling, but it is the feeling of ensemble that predominates.
There is the air of an established household – albeit a decidedly dysfunctional one. Ryan Duncan, meanwhile, gives the family’s servant Robert a hangdog quality that is very appealing.
ridiculous logic
Co-directors Maria Oller and Cameron have fashioned a production that follows its own ridiculous logic with beautifully paced momentum. The timing of the comedy is particularly impressive. On occasion the play seems in danger of repeating itself, but it soon picks up again.
Karen Tennent’s set, with its parade of doors, is a thing of beauty, and Simon Wilkinson’s lighting is gorgeously witty. There are moments of pure theatrical magnetism, such as when Licata comes on with an illuminated, apparently snow-covered umbrella, or when those doors are used for a seemingly endless series of comings and goings that harks back to all manner of comedy traditions. At such times you just want to hug yourself with joy, such is the ingenuity and creativity on display.
Andrew Cruickshank’s music and sound, with its woozily lop-sided tangos, is also wonderfully apt, although sometimes the music seems a shade too loud, particularly when dialogue has to compete with it.
This is a small criticism, however, of a production that is as enjoyable as anything you are likely to see at the Fringe.
Running time: One hour (no interval)
Zoo Southside (Main House), 117 Nicolson St, EH8 9ER (Venue 82)
Friday 2 – Saturday 10 August 2024
Daily at 4.30 pm
Details and tickets: Book here.
Lung Ha Links:
Website: www.lungha.com/
Instagram: @lunghatheatre
Facebook: @lunghas
X: @LungHasTheatre
Emma McCaffrey, Gavin Yule, Ryan Duncan, Tim Licata (foreground), Keith Watson, Emma Clark and Nicola Tuxworth in An Unexpected Hiccup. Pic: Peter Dibdin.
ENDS
