EDINBURGH 2014 - BWW Reviews: THE GREAT FIRE OF NOSTRIL, Pleasance Courtyard, August 8 2014

Casual Violence are known for their dark sketch comedy. The Great Fire of Nostril is the tale of conjointed siblings that have taken to murdering people and then setting them on fire. When their actions leave one boy an orphan he turns to the Make A Wish foundation in order to make his dreams of vengence a reality.

While the performance is one story there are definitely different elements to the structure of it as different characters play out their parts.

The highlights for most people seem to be when they break character. When pouring "petrol" over one member of the team, one of the guys makes a comment that it is especially exciting for him as he doesn't like to get his hair wet. Cue a complete and utter soaking to the delight of the audience. I'm assuming by the reaction of the man doused in water that this wasn't scripted and was somewhat of a prank by the rest of the group.

The troupe work well as a team but for me the material wasn't as funny as I wanted it to be. There are some good ideas and most of the audience seemed really into it but it didn't really make me laugh. Most of the sketches just descend into silliness very quickly and it seemed to drag on a little longer than necessary.

The Great Fire Of Nostril runs at Pleasance Courtyard until August 25th.

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