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House of Life

Underbelly (Belly Dancer), Edinburgh

4 stars

 

Salvation may be hard to come by on the Fringe, but for seekers on a mission to find transformation, you might just have met your Mecca in this hour-long celebration, that begins and ends with comic euphoria, with some serious fun between. 

 

Our leader of the congregation is the almighty RaveRend, a funky soul brother assisted by a guy called Trev. Together, they lead the congregation in a glorious celebration of life that breaks down the liberating force of dance music into a multi-step self help programme to enlighten and amuse. 

 

Presented by the Nottingham based Sheep Soup company, this makes for a glorious double bluff of a show that becomes the grooviest feelgood confessional in town. Audience input to how things go is crucial, with a mass chant of ‘Fuck Tommy Robinson’ and a communal conga particular highlights of Tuesday’s sold out show.

 

As RaveRend, Ben Welch invests his alter ego with a mix of showbiz patter and evangelical pizazz, all the while remaining sensitive to the audience members need to offload. As Trev, Laurence Cole makes for a geeky foil who also provides a full phat soundtrack from a bank of electronic jiggery-pokery that suggests the devil doesn’t really have all the best tunes after all. So sing hallelujah, and stay happy. 

 

Underbelly (Belly Dancer) until 25th August, 8.55pm.


The List, August 2024

 

ends

 

 

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