12/08/23

Pleasance Courtyard (Grand), Edinburgh

The Pleasance Grand is a big venue and this morning it’s packed to the rafters for The Ice Hole: A Cardboard Comedy. It’s the latest offering from French theatre group Le Fils Du Grand Réseau, the people who brought us Fish Bowl in 2019 and, believe me, that’s a tough show to follow. 

But they more than succeed.

This two man production features Pierre Guillois and Olivier Martin Salvan and begins with the latter fishing in the titular ice hole, when he captures a beautiful mermaid called Salina. As he fishes, Salvan tells us all about what’s happening… in Icelandic. Well, alleged Icelandic anyway. Gobbledygook might be a more apt description, but somehow we understand him.

This is just the starting point for an adventure that takes our narrator all around the world – including a memorable stopover in Scotland, complete with bagpipes and authentic weather conditions. The brilliant gimmick here is that Guillois has to provide all the props for the story as it gallops along – and, as you’ve probably guessed from the title, they are all made from cardboard. 

If this sounds underwhelming, don’t be fooled. There’s an endless stream of ingeniously constructed items: machines, costumes, signs (English, not Gobbledygook!), footwear, tools, you name it… and they’re all made from old boxes. The items seem to materialise out of nowhere and the constant interactions between the two actors as this happens keep me laughing uproariously pretty much throughout. 

As I’m watching I’m having the recurring thought that I’m really glad I don’t have to clear up after these guys – and then, at the end, the audience is introduced to the two stagehands who actually have to do it.

TIH:ACC is an inspired piece of surreal lunacy, an hour of sheer unadulterated fun, fuelled by manic levels of invention. Miss it and you’ve only got yourself to blame.

4.8 stars

Philip Caveney