The Dark Party

Don’t be fooled by the five star rating proudly sprawled over their flyers, to those with a keen eye you will notice that they haven’t mentioned who actually gave them the rating, be it their mothers or each other. A trick to get bums on seats that is quite frankly unnecessary for while this show is not nearly the masterpiece it thinks it is, it is a lot of fun.
Set in the new Hullaballoo venue, three performers silently act a host of circus-like tricks to the tune of sinister music and intriguing if underused visuals. The tricks are not a million miles away from the likes of Jackass, involving all manner of painful objects hurting them for our pleasure, such as mouse traps, slamming baked bean tins against their bodies or stapling flowers to their arms. Some make you wince others make you laugh out loud but rarely are the audience in awe. A visually striking moment such as one of the dirty brothers battered with flying sparks from drills is frequently matched with more mundane, over familiar material such as a lying on a nail bed and smashing things on their stomach.
They almost get away with it by delivering a tight, odd little show with some great and unique characters and sketches, this is an intriguing hour that doesn’t quite shock or delight.

3/5

Martin Miller