Edinburgh review: The Vaudevillains (Assembly George Square)

Les Enfants Terrible have become known as a company that make immersive work, from their recent Alice in Wonderland at the Vaults in London, to a detective show at Madame Tussauds. But The Vaudevillains is a piece, first mounted in 2010, which sticks to an end-on stage with (sort-of) a fourth wall.

To say that they should keep to their regular form of audience interaction would be a little unfair. In many ways The Vaudevillians is great. It tells the tale of a Gothic variety theatre, the owner of which is brutally murdered and everyone in the troupe is a suspect. With every song we learn the back story of each of performers – including a knife thrower, a magician, Siamese triplets and a ventriloquist – and each has a dirty secret that the owner knew all about. The songs are strong: funny and quirky – the stand out number is "Tonight at the Empire" – and the cast are very good. The shabby Victoriana designs also look great.

The main problem with the show here in Edinburgh is that it is playing in entirely the wrong venue. Though you’d think that the Spiegeltent Palais Du Variete, with its red velvet curtains and big top would be perfect for a show about Victorian vaudeville, it actually has a reducing effect on the piece. There’s no rake, making it difficult to see the on-stage action, and the actors feel squished up at the front. Though there’s an attempt to use the in-the-round space, Oliver Lansley’s production doesn’t exploit it fully enough.

But the problems don’t just stop with the tent. The show’s repetitive structure – carefully ticking through each performer – really drags. It’s predictable and slow and that’s a pity, because there is a spark to some of the songs.

The Vaudevillains runs at Assembly George Square at 10.10pm until 28 August (not 16).

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