Hello!

Last week, myself and several other members from Bleeding Edge Theatre Company went to see Gonzo Moose’s The Thing That Came From Over There! A comedy about the ‘hapless explorer’ Captain Reginald Cranston Scot-t-t’s encounter with a menacing extra-terrestrial, while on his race to reach the south pole first in 1912. This production was ‘inspired by the Horror movies of the 1950’s’ an odd choice for the subject matter of comedy, but surprisingly fitting.

The narrative came from a distant relative of Captain Reginald Cranston Scot-t-t, wanting to tell the ‘true story’ of what really happened to his ancestor, with the help of his two colleagues. The three actors of Gonzo Moose multi-rolled over 15 characters by simply changing hats to become a new character, a simple but effective technique. Because of this multi-rolling and being out of the action as Scot-t-t’s descendant Gonzo Moose completely shattered the fourth wall. They spoke directly to members of the audience and even sat amongst them to watch the action take place on stage as though audience members themselves. This provided comical moments that may have been improvised, showing the true wit of the cast.

What excelled in this production was the set and stage imagery. The cast visibly changed the set by using the props that were always on stage in various ways. There was a sheet, boxes and skis. These props became a tent, a large alien and an aerial view of the landscape of Antarctica and more. The transition between moving the props into the next scene was smooth and stylised. In particular, the moment where two actors moved from out of the tent and with a change of lighting, the other actor stepped inside the tent, holding two red lights symbolising eyes and suddenly the tent became an overbearing alien about to attack!

Another successful technique used was having a projector on stage the whole time. This was used to show images, to highlight the verisimilitude of Scot-t-t, and to provide numerous comical moments with explaining the map of Antarctica, but it being just a blank screen.

The play being a comedy was very clear, although what perhaps was not so clear was who their target audience was. Majority of the humour within the play was simplistic, slap-stick comedy that children could really appreciate and enjoy (and so could adults!) However, there was a moment where Scot-t-t’s descendant was putting on a costume to look like an alien and there were multiple euphemisms as though he was a condom. There was also a scene where two actors were popping the bubble wrap on their bodies, which represented the disease they received from coming into contact with the alien, in a crescendo of moaning from the satisfaction of popping the spots. This was clearly another crude joke. Along with the adult comedy and the numerous deaths which were clearly trying to be gory in a theatrical way, was probably why there was no children in the theatre when we went to watch it. Perhaps what would improve this is if they picked whether children would enjoy this or not and then work on that more.

Overall, it was an enjoyable quirky piece with a large amount of successful comical moments woven throughout.

– Charlie, Lighting Designer

Inka off.

Works Cited:
Gonzo Moose (2018) The Thing That Came From Over There. Available from https://www.gonzomoose.co.uk/ [accessed 12 March 2018].