Produced by Compagnie le Fils du Grand Réseau

Technical Direction by Colin Plancher

Buckle up – it’s going to be a good’un.

We’re going to be globe-trotting, soaring through the skies, plunging to the depths of the oceans, and we do it all without leaving our seats. There’s little to elaborate on with the skill the Compagnie le Fils du Grand Réseau team demonstrate other than; its perfection. It’s art, and it’s hilarious. The Ice Hole: A Cardboard Comedy brings the entire Pleasance Grand to its knees with laughter and surprises many with just how ingenious the team can be when playing around with some scraps of cardboard.

Previously stunning audiences with the equally as adventurous, though techno-coloured Fishbowl back in 2019, Pierre Guillois and Olivier Martin-Salvan of Compagnie le Fils du Grand Réseau manage to achieve something even cannier, even better, and even more down-right hilarious.

Exhausting, in all the best ways, Ice Hole doesn’t let up on the laughs from the moment Grégoire Lagrange struts out in his swimming trunks, and Jonathan Pinto-Rocha, well, he doesn’t move as much. But this doesn’t stop an eruption of over-the-top expression and aggression from being lobbed at Lagrange (as well as some cardboard cutouts) from Pinto-Rocha, who plays an absolute blinder as the blustering man from the Fjords. So how does all of this kick-off? Well, this man drops his can of coke into an ice hole, and after attempting to fish it out (with a charmingly unfolding piece of cardboard) instead catches the love of his life.

It’s a simple story of love, murder, and a touch of arrogance as Ice Hole drags us all over the world in pursuit of his beloved, a mermaid called Celeste, and dodges the authorities for various shoe-related murders. But the story largely serves as a vehicle for bigger, bolder, and more ingenious set pieces from the group which uses clever wordplay, alliteration and onomatopoeia to the extreme to squeeze out every bit of humour.

Hell, the laughs begin before the show even does with the clever little visual gags and introduction of the cardboard nature of it all. There’s even an epilogue and final jab to ensure absolutely everyone leaves with a smile. Well, except for the clean-up crew…But the real MVP, the man in desperate need of a shower from all the running back and forth, the costume changes and the paper cuts, Lagrange hurls themselves into the physical comedy and scene changes in a truly enviable demonstration of physicality and control.

Even some of the jokes which raise an eyebrow aren’t enough to soggy this cardboard caper of chaos. It’s a must-see for the Fringe if you’re able to hurl enough shoes at folk to nab their tickets. And while we don’t condone violence in any form, we wouldn’t blame you for this excellent sell-out show.