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Pleasance Courtyard – Beneath
A riot inside the Trojan Horse provides a boisterous immersive treat. Summary
Rating
Excellent
Way back when, centuries before Christ, a gigantic wooden horse with a beak like a duck and a fluffy tail has been taken just outside the walls of Troy. Cramped inside its womb, a hundred soldiers are waiting for instructions, and I am one of them.
To provide a bit of context for those who aren’t familiar with epic literature, the Trojan Horse is said to have been used as a ploy to end the ten-year long war between Greece and Troy. Pretending to sail back home, the Greek army hid, instead, inside the wooden animal, which the Trojans then took inside the city, thinking it was a war trophy. The rest, as they say, is history. Thanks to Fishing 4 Chips, in this show we get to see the behind the scenes of such a glorious feat and find out that perhaps it wasn’t as heroic as we’ve been told in school.
Odysseus – credited with conceiving the stratagem and confidently played by Freddie Walker – is a prick on a power trip, worshipped by the (almost always) loyal Acamus, brought to life by the magnetic Hannah Harquart. Sat right in front of me, Echeon (Sean Wareing) is desperate to go home and pursue a career in theatre. Across the room, the towering Ajax the Great (Alistair Rowley) is lying about his past, whereas Anticlus (Kathryn Pridgeon) is campaigning for unions and soldiers’ rights. Meanwhile, the carpenter Epeius (Conor Joseph) forgot to leave the horse before it was locked.
It’s a complete riot of an hour, with cast members dotted within the packed auditorium to generate a repartee that elicits surprise and laughter. A few spectators are pulled from the crowd to support the action with a playfulness that raises the roof on more than one occasion. The pace is pushed to the limit and the atmosphere is hysterical – so much so that I didn’t even dare getting my notebook out.
At one point, a plume of smoke trickles in from the head of the animal. The horse has been accidentally set on fire and the only liquid available in the confined space is what’s been collected in the waste buckets…
It’s hard to tell how much fun those who don’t know the story might have, but with no shortage of slapstick, play on words and pop culture references, tonight we all seemed to be having a hell of a time.
Directed by: Maya Shimmin
Produced by: Fishing 4 Chips
Burning Down the Horse plays at EdFringe 2023 until 27 August, 1:05pm at the Pleasance Courtyard. Further information and bookings here.
