Crybabies: The Scaring at Pleasance Courtyard – Edinburgh Fringe review

Edinburgh Comedy Award-nominated sketch trio Crybabies (Michael Clarke, James Gault, and Ed Jones) return to the Fringe with The Scaring. Produced by Francesca Moody Productions in association with Plosive Live and directed by Jon Brittain, it marks a bold, slicker, and spookier chapter for the group.

It is worth saying up front that this production isn’t like their usual sketch fare. We follow Arthur Holland, a disillusioned former priest who, after losing his great love, throws in the cloth (pun intended). He checks into a remote hotel only to be drawn back into the supernatural fold, forced into an unlikely double act with Gerry, the ghost of a long-dead guest, to tackle spookier threats under the watchful eye of the hotel’s Norman Bates-esque manager, Mr Lyle.

There is speedy slapstick, high-concept humour, and wordplay aplenty here. Despite their background in sketch, the cast of three seamlessly sustain the plot over a one-hour runtime, with a nice intersection between theatre and comedy. Setting the show in a haunted hotel gives them the perfect playground to throw in so many silly characters and whiplash-fast costume switches.

The only tragedy is that it’s not running over Halloween: because this is the perfect Halloween show, complete with a few moments that are genuinely quite scary. While it isn’t necessarily breaking much new ground, and the climax feels slightly rushed when it could easily have accommodated another scene or two, it remains an absolute standout Fringe experience. If anything, I would have happily had it last longer.

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