EDINBURGH 2019: Review: TROLL, Summerhall

The year is 1998 and 12 year old Otto is getting up at 4am to spend some uninterrupted time on the internet. On the internet, Otto can get away with pretending he's 13 and its great because "nobody is a dick on the internet".

Otto soon realises the dark side of the web and that people can be horrible. The cables connecting the house to the internet become ropes for the trolls to follow.

Otto's Icelandic grandmother has moved in with them and she tells him stories about her own experiences with trolls. She offers questionable advice for the most part but also tells him not to let the troll inside him grow.

Trick of the Light Theatre specialise in puppetry and shadow theatre and it is a really inventive way to tell the story. There's good use of multimedia as the wall and floor have late 90's computer graphics and typeface projected onto them.

The techniques that are used do tell the story well but it just feels too drawn out when the moral of Troll seemed to be clear midway through and it is quite predictable.

The format is beautiful and I feel like this should have been a really captivating tale but I found myself a bit bored. It's recommended for ages 8+ so maybe a younger audience is more likely to be drawn in.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/troll

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