Produced by Awkward Productions and Linus Karp

Review by Annie Aslett

Linus Karp is your Jellicle host for this Jellicle evening filled with Jellicle PowerPoint presentations, Jellicle dance breaks and Jellicle deep-fried memes. ‘how to live a jellicle life: life lessons from the 219 hit musical ‘cats’’ is a one-man show run by Karp, impeccably dressed throughout as a Jellicle Cat, headpiece and all. This unmissable hour of entertainment is billed as a Jellicle TED Talk, as Karp, clicker in paw, walks us through the characters from the musical as examples of how to be truly Jellicle. Prior viewing of the 2019 film is not required and, if it were possible, the show might be even funnier if you have only heard tell of Tom Hooper’s bonkers flick.

Alongside the PowerPoint slides, how to live a jellicle life is a multi-media experience that starts even as you walk into the room, as you listen to carefully curated snippets of music’s best cat-themed lyrics (think Nicki Minaj’s WAP) and some that have been hilariously badly dubbed over by Karp’s disembodied voice (a favourite is Dua Lipa’s Let’s Get Physical: “come on, come on, let’s get *jellicle*). This genius shtick is utilised throughout the show and is comedy gold.

Karp has been performing this show for a while now, and it shows in his faultless and confident delivery – each joke and slide change is perfectly timed. Delivering this show straight-faced must be quite the task, but Karp has developed just the right persona of an experienced, serious lecturer, with the occasional cheeky chinks in his armour that bely just how much fun he’s having. There are many instances where he has to wait, ever demure and professional, for the audience to catch their breath from laughing.

He is helped throughout by his seemingly long-suffering tech guy and general dog body (sacrilege) Joseph Martin, who is included occasionally, to big laughs, from the sidelines. We the audience are also involved, as we are invited to participate in various short quizzes and discover our jellicle names (call me trippyshanks the hysterical cat).

Sadly, Karp expects this will be the last time he brings this Jellicle show to the Fringe, but you can purchase a digital download ticket on Karp’s website https://linktr.ee/awkwardprods

Karp is also touring this and his other highly-rated show, Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story, this autumn, so make sure you grab yourself a ticket to catch Karp work his Jellicle magic in person.