EDINBURGH 2026: Review: A FOOT IS NOT AN APPROPRIATE PRIZE FOR THE TOMBOLA at Attic, Pleasance Courtyard
Toe-tal Chaos at the Church Fete
Avid churchgoer Lydia has organized a charity tombola at her local church, but there is a major snag: a severed foot turns up inside one of the tombola prizes. As the revelations grow increasingly bizarre, Lydia becomes determined to solve the whodunnit mystery herself.
Performed by Daniel McVey, this interactive mystery presents a promising script. The stage set does a lot with a little, featuring a central table adorned with tacky, colorful tombola prizes. We have VHS tapes, certificates, chocolates and bubble wands. Audience involvement is a core element of the experience. Each attendee receives a flag to wave during the show, making it easy to feel like part of the action. Select audience members even get to draw tickets throughout the performance, taking home actual prizes as souvenirs from this bloody fete.
McVey delivers a strong performance as Lydia, capturing the exact cadence of a forty-something church lady obsessed with social status and local gossip. However, the show relies very heavily on audience members who enjoy acting. Key suspects and even the investigating policeman - represented by an amusing puppet - are played entirely by volunteers reading lines from a script. While this setup is great fun for those who like taking center stage, it demands a lot from the crowd.
During the preview performance, McVey also relied noticeably on his own script, which occasionally proved distracting and pulled focus from the momentum of the scene. Additionally, as the mystery unfolds, the story starts to get quite complex, causing parts of the audience to zone out during the exposition-heavy stretches.
Despite these preview-run hiccups, the show offers a fun, quirky spin on the traditional murder mystery. With a polished delivery and a slightly streamlined narrative, this bloody parish fete has high potential to be a comedy hit.
A Foot is Not an Appropriate Prize for the Tombola is at the Pleasance Courtyard from the 5 to 31 of August.
Photo: A Foot is Not an Appropriate Prize for the Tombola
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