Rating: ★★
Venue: Underbelly Bristo Square, Edinburgh
Take a bunch of tuneful strangers. Mix in a dollop of behind-the-scenes skulduggery, a Sound Man playing detective, a sprinkling of star-crossed love, and plenty of juicy arpeggios. Marinade, cook for 60 minutes... and serve hot. The result is a mouth-watering fusion dish, combining the beloved TV show and a sumptuous original score to form Come Dine With Me: The Musical – a winning recipe that will delight even the pickiest palate! (Warning: May Contain Spice.)
Following the success of Great British Bake Off: The Musical, it was to be expected that we’d see other shows trying to follow the reality-tv-to-stage formula. Whereas the Bake Off is famous for it’s inherent wholesomeness (which was perfectly captured in the show last year) Come Dine With Me is mostly known for its comedic levels of chaos. Naturally, I was hoping to see that reflected on this adaptation for the stage.
Unfortunately, those expectations were not fulfilled. A lot can be forgiven in a Fringe run, we as an audience know budgets are tight and the value is not on the sophistication of set design but in the inventiveness put to play. A lot of the shows put on during these festivals are works in progress, so the pacing and structure can transform and evolve as the creatives get to see how audiences react to the material. That being said, Come Dine with Me loses steam about 15 minutes in. What should be a light-hearted comedy, becomes a repetitive sequence of scenes that do nothing to answer the mystery we are presented with. The characters are two dimensional at best and tired cliches at worst. (It’s 2024, guys, are we still making fun of veganism?)
We are asked to care about the dynamics between these characters, but the relationships between them are established in info dumps and there is nothing put on the stage to endear us to them, just stories they tell each other. This show commits the cardinal sin of storytelling, and that is that it constantly just tells us instead of showing us anything. Even worse, some sequences were so boring that an audience member started snoring near to where I was sitting.
Unfortunately this show was a let down, and I wish the story had gone further. For a moment it felt like it was set up to shed light on how reality television can be manipulative and even cruel towards its subjects, but it backs off at the last minute. With a comprehensive rewrite, this show could be a very enjoyable night out, but as it stands, I couldn’t recommend sitting through it.
You can book tickets to Come Dine With Me: The Musical, here.
Review by Luma
No comments