Fly, You Fools! is a must-see hit, taking the Fringe by storm alongside Recent Cutbacks’ already impressive repertoire. Their formula seems almost impossible to fail: take a beloved blockbuster, condense it into an hour, and throw a small team of actors, a Foley artist and an almost limitless amount of creativity at it. Somehow, they consistently manage to turn this ambitious premise into something inventive and genuinely joyful.
The actors’ physical comedy is incredibly strong, with props used inventively to recreate some of the more CGI-heavy moments of The Lord of the Rings. The most memorable examples include sticks topped with beard wigs to recreate Gandalf and Saruman’s battle, alongside light-box puppetry for the Mines of Moria and Gandalf’s infamous “You shall not pass”. Even without props, the trio are endlessly entertaining, whether cramming four Hobbits between them or highlighting the ridiculousness of Boromir’s heroic death.
What really brings the performance together, however, is the imaginative work of Foley Artist Kelly Robinson. Using her voice and an impressive collection of props, Robinson adds another layer of comedy to the performance while remaining completely immersed in the world of Middle-earth. Beyond the sound effects, her Galadriel impression is particularly brilliant, with Robinson voicing the character before stepping onto the stage herself for the iconic scene in which she is tempted by the Ring.
While I never got the chance to catch Recent Cutbacks’ limited performances of their Jurassic Park parody Hold on to Your Butts, I did experience KEVIN!!!!!, their recent puppetry performance bringing Home Alone to life and a slice of Christmas to the Edinburgh Fringe. Both experiences have more than assured me that this is a team of creative, inspired and incredibly witty performers, capable of finding joy and comedy even in the most familiar stories and winning over even the most sceptical of audience members.
Condensing a film that runs for nearly three hours into just 60 minutes without making it feel rushed is an impressive feat in itself. Yet Fly, You Fools! manages this while simultaneously sending up the original film and treating it with genuine affection. As a longstanding fan of the trilogy who, admittedly, hasn’t watched it in years, the show reignited a sense of nostalgia and affection that had been lying dormant, reminding me why Middle-earth has such an enduring place in popular culture.
There is something particularly special about watching a team take a story they clearly love and find completely new ways to play with it. Fly, You Fools! is silly, inventive and entirely committed to its premise, and I’m already excited to see what this creative team comes up with next year.
Fly, You Fools! has completed its run at the Edinburgh Fringe at Beyond at Pleasance Courtyard as of 31 August
Image by Mike Bryk, provided to The Student for press use.
