Review: EDINBURGH 2024 CSI: CRIME SCENE IMPROVISATION, Underbelly, Bristo Square.

CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation thrives on murder, mystery and managing the unknown. The Chandeliers Theatre Company are a team of talented comedic actors with panache, bags of energy and total willingness to engage.

The cast relish the freedom to go big with their choices, as the killer is decided by the audience at the end. We are welcomed by Detective Mike played by Michael Kunze, who asks the audience to be his partner, in the form of a hive mind, playing Detective Dave. Mike’s responsibilities lie with explaining the premise of the show, via a series of rules to clarify the oncoming action.

The audience as Detective Mike make selections by a series of cheers, selecting ‘Lady Penelope De’Ath’ as the victim’s name, with the occupation of an Olympic break-dancer, murdered by an ominous weapon, wait for it… a barbie doll to the throat. With the tone set by bloodthirsty Detective Dave, new odd clues come thick and fast as we familiarise ourselves with the suspects.

We meet the De’Ath family as each cast member steps into creating their roles with wit, lightning speed and agility. Daddy De’Ath, played by Steve Bond, is the wealthy father involved in a local investment, with a passion for parkour and disapproval of break dancing. Lee Apsey, the co-creator of the company, plays Dougy Doug ‘Fresh’ the younger brother of the deceased, a bedwetter with a passion for breakdancing like just like dear Penelope did.

Princess Priscilla, the youngest daughter, does a wonderful job of being haughty and over-confident in her sporting abilities, played by Isabelle Glinn. Dougy is in a secret relationship with ‘Sad Cathy’ a truly wonderful underdog character, played winningly by Nicola Lucey, a skateboard whiz with a poor relationship with her mother. The mother is played by Sarah Kempton, with deep routed interests of keeping the local sports facility open by any means necessary, intent on the continuation of the funding by The De’Ath’s.

The scenes are each hugely amusing, meandering off on tangents, with a particularly humorous section dealing with confusion over a bowling alley, not to be mistaken with Crown Green Bowls, such is the nature of creating a convoluted storyline and importantly creating suspicious links.

Apsey commits to the breakdancing, at the exhaustion to himself, the hilarity of the cast and audience and he is thus selected as the eventual murderer. The show works brilliantly, the format allowing every show to be unique and encouraging bold performance choices. CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation is an absolute scream, creatively inspiring a comedic new play every performance, with the power of group invention.

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