ED FRINGE 2023 REVIEW | The Silliad: Improvised Myths and Legends
★ ★ ★ ★
Reviewer - Jordan
*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
The Fringe hosts any number of improv comedies, so to stand out you need to bring something different to the table, much like Artificial Intelligence Improvisation that we previously reviewed. Thankfully, there is another show bringing something wholly unique to the stage.
The Silliad is an improv show about legends and myths, but not the ones you might know, oh no, they create their own. Upon arrival at the show, you will be handed a card where you can write down any question you would like to know the mythological answer to, for example, where does rain really come from? Why are yawns contagious? Or in the case of our show, who would win in a fight, 1000 chickens or 1 lion.
As with most improv shows we begin with the cast asking for some additional prompts, such as the location, but more specifically for this show we are also asked to pick a pantheon from which this myth originated, though we are limited to Greek, Norse or Egyptian. It’s at this point I’d just like to say, while we only saw a little bit of the Norse pantheon I was still very much impressed with the cast’s knowledge on this subject.
With the setting and pantheon decided, all that was left was to tell the story… The cast did a great job creating a memorable cast of characters, introducing running gags that were revisited throughout the show without becoming stale or repetitive, and eventually managing to tie all the threads they had introduced together into a single narrative conclusion. I was impressed and enjoyed it from start to finish.
At Just The Tonic at the Caves until 27 August.
