As I made my way into the attic of the Bongo Club– sorry Underbelly Cowgate– to see Mush on the hottest day of the year (so far), I was fully expecting to sit uncomfortably in a pool of my own sweat for an hour. The next 60 minutes of my life were spent watching some of the most absurd theatre I’ve ever seen. I was so enthralled by Jeromaia Detto and his commitment to silliness that I completely forgot about being in the most humid room in the city.
Mush is a collection of characters of Detto’s own invention, who all interact with the audience in their own equally insane way. We meet a Catholic priest, a suave Italian, and a caterpillar in the early stages of metamorphosis. Each character, while completely different from the last, is fully realised and the show is so well constructed that the absurdity of Detto’s acting is completely grounded and counterbalanced by the show’s structure. There are some elements of his characterisation that remind me of Sacha Baron Cohen at his silliest, but the show is so specific that it feels like watching something totally new.
Detto trusts his audience to fully commit to their role in the show; if you’re sitting near the aisle, be prepared to potentially jump out of your seat at a moments’ notice or receive a seemingly random prop that will become important later.
Even when dealing with who may have been the most frustrating audience member I’ve seen at the fringe this year, Detto was as he had been through the entire show: funny, self-assured, and concise. Mush is a great exhibition of Jeromaia Detto’s abilities as a comedian.
Jeromaia Detto’s Mush is on at 17:10 in Underbelly Cowgate’s Ironbelly, until the 25.
Buy tickets here.
Image by Andrew Max Levy provided by Underbelly