Presented by Sheep Soup

Review by Harri Dimdore-Miles

Udderbelly at Underbelly, George Square

‘House of Life’ is the camp, surrealist brainchild of Ben Welch. Arriving fresh on the fringe scene in 2023, three years later ‘House of Life’ takes on the massive Udderbelly stage in George Square Gardens. Not only did they pack out the 400+ capacity venue, but they had the place ringing with delirious cheers, laughter and the hiss of egg shakers that were generously distributed to the entire audience.

House of Life is a satirical, yet genuinely moving, music-based spiritual extravaganza that takes the audience through a multi-step guide to reaching enlightenment. We are led by the extravagant and instantly likeable Rave-Rend (Ben Welch) and his plain suited charmingly tame musical assistant “Trev” (Lawrence Cole). The pairs aim above anything else is to make the audience feel happy. They wholeheartedly succeed through a series of comedy, musical numbers, ridiculous dances and audience participation.

Enlightenment begins with ‘Rebirth’, where the audience close their eyes and are guided through an utterly hilarious chicken-based meditation. This instantly instils the culture of the show in the audience – ‘It’s weirder if you don’t do it’ – which is repeated by the Rave-rand throughout as he invites the audience to partake in more bizarre rituals in the pursuit of happiness. Each element of House of Life is a treat for the brain and body and asks us to really let go. Once you do, you are reminded that no matter your age, play makes us happy. Whether that be pretending to crack your way out of a pretend egg using your ‘beak’ or singing positive manifestations at a single chosen audience member – they make it sincerely hard not to smile. At points they create the type of shared joy I suspect a deeply religious person feels at a particularly good sermon.

As a double act Welch and Cole are fantastic. The bold glitz of the Rave-rand and the awkwardness of Trev perfectly complements one another. They move around each other slickly with obvious familiarity keeping the show moving fast, from high energy club hits to slow thoughtfully delivered anecdotes. Though Trev is a sidekick, the show would not be anywhere near what it is without Cole playing the ‘straight man’ with his perfect grounding demeanour.

As well as providing skilled theatrics and genuine comedy, both performers are exceptionally musically talented, something that can be hard to find in tandem. Welch’s voice is stunning and suitably soulful for his character and Cole’s is just the perfect level of impressive that its tunefulness is shocking but not too juxtaposed to his character. The sound production is insane, with Cole live mixing beats and sound bites from audience members as well as playing live musical instruments. I had to secretly open my eyes during the meditation to catch a glimpse of his incredible saxophone solo.

The only real flaw with the show was that there wasn’t enough of Cole and Welch performing. Audience participation worked brilliantly to open everyone up to the experience and create a friendly atmosphere, but too much took away from the talent in front of us. The

second half of the show especially was filled with quite repetitive call and responses, audience interviews and singalongs – much to some Americans in the audience glee. Of course, it is the spirit of the show to make everyone feel actively involved; that is where a lot of the buzz of happiness is generated. However, it can get tiring listening to far less entertaining audience members or chanting quite similar phrases over and over. Unfortunately, this felt like a dip in how engaging the show was, compared to the first half where we got more absurd comedy and musical genius, and audience participation felt like a welcomed extension of the main spectacle. With the ticket prices being more expensive you really want the most comedy/music/visuals you can get in an hour, especially when you have two incredible performers like Cole and Welch in front of you.

Nonetheless what you do get in the hour is well worth it and is the ultimate pick-me-up. They claim that no one who has left the show has ever felt sad again. Whilst this may be a stretch, you would be hard pressed to find anyone walking out of ‘House of Life’ feeling anything but heart warmed and uplifted.

---