Murder! At the Cirque Du Banquet! The Terrible, Final Case of Detective Ace Dekkard
★★★☆☆ Chaotic
Paradise in Augustines (Venue 152): Mon 12 – Sat 17 Aug 2024
Review by Hugh Simpson
Dead Parrot Collective’s Murder! At the Cirque Du Banquet! The Terrible, Final Case of Detective Ace Dekkard, at Paradise in Augustines for the Fringe’s second week, is a cross-genre comedy romp that is a fitting late-night Fringe entertainment – defiantly silly and performed with gusto.
Starting off as a parody of Hollywood film noir gumshoe movies (complete with internal monologue voiceover) it soon becomes something else entirely. Ace Dekkard, the world’s best detective, is called upon to investigate a murder at the Cirque du Banquet – even though his personal history means that he doesn’t do clowns.
The Dead Parrot Collecive. Pic TDPC
Cue a parade of ludicrous characters from the circus and the Yew Nork PD (yes, really). The cast sport the most ridiculous costumes and accents, switch characters at the drop of a hat, and throw themselves across the stage with abandon.
This is very much a production for grown-ups who want their own children’s show (the language and some of the content mean it’s not for actual kids).
A real children’s show would be more ruthlessly edited, however. The play, like its title, is simply too long. In the last half hour, it switches back into being a crime story, with a plot with too many strands and far too convoluted to be that bothered about. A bravura climactic fight sequence does bring things back, however.
The script is by Connor McCord and Paul Tomlinson, from a story by James Sharp, McCord, Tomlinson, Erin Clark, Jack Jarvis Gouther, Chelsea Moles, Brianna Jolly and Declyn Tracey, and this is surely one of those occasions where a more ruthless creator would have jettisoned many of the ideas.
high hit rate of jokes
As it is, there is still a high hit rate of jokes, with the cast managing to make even some of the more outré characters believable. McCord holds it all together as Dekkard, turning in a comparatively restrained characterisation that works very well.
It is certainly restrained in comparison to the gallery of bizarres joyfully played by Jordan Monks and Lev Siegel. Brianna Jolly also has a series of roles, and it is to the credit of all three performers that they really seem to believe in every one of them.
Jack Jarvis Gouther’s Ringmaster, apparently from the Central Belt end of Spain, is appropriately larger than life. Chelsea Holes and Declyn Tracy also play exaggerated circus perfumers, but do it with a surprising degree of nuance.
Similarly, Erin Clark’s Clownmaster Pepper has an oddly compelling believability, and James Sharp gets a great deal of variety from an apparently uncommunicative clown.
Paul Tomlinson plays Dekkard’s young sidekick as a neurotic New Yorker (or is that Yew Norker), adding life and colour to an already varied ensemble.
excesses
Sharp also directs, and deserves great praise for reining in some of the excesses of what could become a completely chaotic production.
It is certainly enjoyable even if the physical comedy and the over-complicated crime story are pulling in different directions, at times awkwardly so. It is all very well trying to be clever and subtle, but sometimes the fart jokes are just more fun.
Running time: One hour and 30 minutes (no interval)
Paradise in Augustines (Studio), 41 George IV Bridge, EH1 1EL (Venue 152)
Monday 12 – Saturday 17 August 2024
Daily at 10.10 pm
Details and tickets at: Book here
Facebook: @DeadParrotCollective
Instagram: @thedeadparrotcollective
Linktree: @TDPC
ENDS
