Review: Turn This Sh*t Off, Hen and Chickens Theatre

We can all relate to the experience of flicking through dozens of television channels and finding nothing we are interested in watching; the decision to move on from a programme we do not like can be made in a few minutes or even seconds. Turn This Sh*t Off may well be a phrase vented out of frustration if we feel strongly enough in our dislike, and this show hilariously dials the experience up to 11.

The concept is delivered through an engaging framing device; the audience is on a guest tour of Stool Studios, witnessing the filming of a wide variety of their television programmes in all genres for all tastes: talk shows, reality series, soap operas and magic performances. All are energetically brought to life by the charismatic co-writers and performers Eve Crutchley, Evie Farmer and Poppy Taplin, who knowingly portray the very worst clichés of these genres that can be found. In a series of rapid sketches, they present an insightful and humorous take on familiar sights: exasperated hosts desperately trying to hold an engaging conversation with their dull guests, shallow contestants overzealously battling to win audience favour, and soap opera characters resorting to violent melodrama at the slightest provocation.

Although this performance is described as a work in progress, Crutchley, Farmer and Taplin have crafted an engaging satire, expertly identifying the elements which make a programme annoying to watch, and pushing them to the extreme to great comedic effect. The ensemble employs an impressive variety of performance styles to give the different sketches their own flavour: barbed conversations, high-energy dance routines, silent physical performances and everything in between. Exaggerated comparisons between tall and short characters are precisely achieved through a well-staged forced-perspective illusion. The television studio narrative provides an effective grounding to contrast with the sketches, with the increasingly exasperated host moving the audience through programmes at pace in the hope of showcasing a quality product.   

With such a rapid turnaround between scenes, co-directors Grace Boag-Matthews, Crutchley, Farmer and Taplin manage the energy and pace by alternating between the more intensive dance or action sequences and the (relatively) calmer dialogue-driven scenes. With so many different characters to portray (often featuring a range of accents), the ensemble takes turns in leading or supporting roles, deploying a range of verbal tones and physical gestures to make each one fresh.

The lively troupe rarely stands still for long, so to provide them with the space for the well-choreographed movement and dancing, they utilise a minimum of physical furniture on the stage; two chairs serve to facilitate interviews. The stage is instead surrounded with bags of props and elements of costumes to enable them to rapidly switch between characters; a range of jackets, hats, wigs, moustaches and makeup is donned, with the cast (intentionally) looking increasingly dishevelled as the show progresses. 

The performances are enhanced by Boag-Matthews’s sound and lighting design, matching the tone of music and atmosphere of lighting to the genre of the programme but heightened to extremes; bright and cheerful for overly upbeat chat shows, excessively dramatic for the magic displays, and energetic for the dancing. Turn This Sh*t Off is an engaging and highly entertaining proof of concept, delivered with charm and confidence. There is certainly no shortage of television shows out there, ripe for The Three Stools treatment; their interpretation will surely be more entertaining than what‘s to be found trawling through the channels. 

Co-written and performed by Eve Crutchley, Evie Farmer and Poppy Taplin
Co-directed by Eve Crutchley, Evie Farmer, Poppy Taplin and Grace Boag-Matthews
Presented by The Three Stools
Lighting and sound by Grace Boag-Matthews

Turn This Sh*t Off has completed its current run at Hen and Chickens Theatre, but will be playing at Edinburgh Fringe from Thursday 6 to Sunday 30 August.