8 FRINGE FEATURE
By OLIVIA THOMAS
SILENCE! The Musical
It may be a late show at 11.15pm each
evening but having always been a fan of
Academy Award-winning The Silence of the
Lambs this mad unauthorised parody on the
programme will be a must see. The original
film came out in 1991, adapted from a novel
- starring Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, a
young FBI trainee hunting a serial killer
named ‘Buffalo Bill’ who skinned
his female victims. In order to
catch him, Clarice called on
the help of imprisoned
Hannibal Lecter played by
Anthony Hopkins – a
cannibalistic serial killer.
It was as gruesome as it
sounds and if you haven’t
watched it now is the time.
So how one earth can this
become a spoof? Well, it’s produced
by Paul Taylor-Mills and Victoria Lang and it
promises singing serial killers, tap-dancing
lambs and gleefully unstoppable bad taste.
Isn’t that what we all want at the Fringe?
It’s the familiar story where a rookie FBI
agent matches with the brilliant but insane
Dr. Hannibal Lecter in an intense serial killer
chase and now the most horrific of subjects
are paired with a chorus of singing lambs
narrating the action and breaking out
into cheerful show tunes with unprintable
song titles.
Originally premiering in 2005 off-
Broadway, SILENCE! combines whip-smart
dialogue, shocking songs, and over-the-top
performances in a parody that is popular
with seasoned fans of the film and FBI
rookies alike. Spinning the horror genre to
include the absurd, SILENCE! The
Musical will have audiences laughing in the
face of danger.
One most definitely for the
adults, SILENCE! is the perfect final
showstopper for a day of theatre at Fringe.
With an on-stage ensemble of
10, SILENCE! comes to Edinburgh Festival
Fringe with some of the original creators
behind it, including the outstanding
director-choreographer Christopher Gattelli
(Wonka, Newsies The Musical) and designer
Scott Pask (The Pillowman, The Coast of
Utopia, The Book of Mormon), both Tony
award-winning.
So have some coffee (and maybe some
wine) and head down to the Cowbarn nice
and early in August.
These are just three shows which have already caught our eye
on the Fringe this year, so get your festival spreadsheets at the
ready and book your tickets to see something quite different.
Fringe frolics
Top
PlayGinger Johnson Blows Off!
You may have watched Ginger Johnson on TV
in season five of RuPaul’s Drag Race when she
described herself as “a helium balloon in the
shape of a woman” and her drag as “silly” and
“camp”. Ginger is known for her
rampant ridiculousness with past shows
including duets with talking poo, psychic
surgery and making love to a talking custard pie.
Born in County Durham and a known and
loved fixture of Britain’s cabaret scene, the East
London drag queen charmed
the RuPaul judges with her campy comedy and
stunning hand-made costumes. Ginger’s utter
dream was to win Drag Race so what do you
do when you achieve your dream of winning?
Come up with a new dream of course! Ginger
Johnson Blows Off! which is playing at theTop
Musical