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This Was Your Life
Published on Tuesday, 09 April 2013
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The Warren (venue website)
Theatre
13-15 May, 9:30pm-10:25pm

 Warning: Contains strong language.
 Warning: Contains flashing lights.
 Suitable for age 16+ only.

The cameras are rolling, the floor manager’s panicking and a nervous contestant is waiting off-stage. But this is no ordinary game show. In their sometimes-thoughtful, often-outrageous cabaret musical, Quite Nice Productions reprise the life of a recently-deceased young man… before we, the audience, are called on to decide whether to send him to Heaven or to Hell.

When we caught This Was Your Life at last year’s Buxton Fringe, our reviewer praised the show’s bustling energy and ever-present wit.  The plot was built around some very funny set-pieces, he wrote, with the three cast members swapping rapidly between roles to deliver a series of surprising and creative twists.  But there was a harder edge, too, with moments of chilling poignancy poking through the humour – sometimes interrupting the audience mid-giggle, shaming it into silence.

The show we saw in Buxton had a fair few rough edges, and it must be said that the musical numbers were more entertaining than melodious.  But they’ve had close on a year to develop it since then; and in any case, small-scale informality is part of this particular show’s charm.  So if you like your Fringe youthful, and just a little bit silly… then perhaps, This Is Your Show.

Read our full review of This Was Your Life from last year's Buxton Fringe.

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