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Big Daddy Versus Giant Haystacks
Published on Saturday, 05 May 2012
preview

The Rock Inn, 7 Rock Street, Kemptown
Theatre
5, 28 May, 8:00pm-10:00pm

This show is part of the Brighton £5ringe, a parallel featival separate from the official Fringe.  Tickets cannot be booked through the Fringe box office.  Instead, see the £5ringe website for information and reservations.

If you’re over the age of about 35, Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks will need no introduction.  If you’re not, prepare to be amazed by this award-winning memoir of the glory days of British wrestling – when two ageing, overweight gladiators pretended to fight every Saturday, in front of an adoring public, live on ITV.

ImageWhen we caught this show’s debut at last year's Brighton Fringe, we guessed we’d be entertained; we hadn’t expected to be so moved.  Beating off strong competition to win Brighton’s best-actor award, Ross Gurney-Randall made a deeply touching Big Daddy, a man of simple emotions caught amidst the hype of an overwhelming world.  David Mounfield excelled too as his bullying yet caring brother Max – and the two men take on dozens of extra roles during the course of the story, with a handful of supremely witty pastiches to enjoy along the way.

The show's been touring over the year since that first outing, so we’re excited by the prospect of this updated version.  For all that it’s bizarre, it’s a story worth telling – and it’s told with both humour and respect.  It picked up one of our Editors’ Choice awards in 2011, and at £5 a ticket, it looks like it ought to be one of the best bargains of the Fringe.

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FROM OUR ARCHIVES

These are archived reviews of shows from Brighton 2012.  We keep our archives online as a courtesy to performers, and for readers who'd like to research previous years' reviews.