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Twisted Tales

Twisted Tales

Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe 2022

by Gareth K Vile

Twisted Tales is a double bill of comedic horror, expertly performed by two performers and, while only using a glove puppet in the second of the stories, demonstrates an enthusiasm for a dramaturgy which is willing to cross genres and embrace a minimal, DIY dynamism and staging.

If the first script gives away its conceit too quickly, the second follows a predictable plot and relies less on surprises and twists than the intensity of the performers. A pair of children’s TV presenters, and their glove puppet, find their carers threatened by financial cuts, and enact a fiendish plan to save their jobs. The relationship between the puppeteer and his puppet, initially played for laughs, seems a little too real, but when the puppet reveals itself to be the true master criminal, murder can be the only conclusion.

The familiar trope of the living puppet is played for humour and horror, and retains enough ambiguity to lend the action tension and, on the reveal, surprise. Leaning into the juxtaposition of innocence and violence, the two humans are naïve enough to fall for the puppet’s trickery and capture the same awkwardness that the puppet’s heel turn evokes.

Although the actual puppetry is rudimentary, this sits comfortable with the aesthetic of the company: rough and ready, relying on a kind of ‘theatre of poverty’ using minimal props and scenery, while creating an easy and comfortable connection to the audience. Ultimately, ‘Owdyado theatre company do not aim to break new territory but, through combining light comedy and a grand guignol aesthetic, demonstrate that Fringe theatre can work on a budget and deliver an entertaining hour.