Sadly without a programme I am at a loss, and did not see any QR codes either, so I am unable to credit anyone in this low budget fringe chamber comedy musical called 'Scouts!'.
A cast of 6 (well, 7 if you count the fleeting cameo - blink and you'll miss her - of an erstwhile narrator), and they are all multi-talented actor / musicians, with each member of cast playing at least 2 different instruments throughout as well as acting, singing and dancing. The stage design is basic and very minimal, but ideal for a small scale touring show such as this. The instruments and characters take our focus.
We find ourselves at the final of 'The Scout Games', whereby the young scouts are given certain tasks to complete and the slowest or most incompetent to complete the task is eliminated before going on to the next round. This is more or less the entire story, although the games are in danger of being sabotaged by a former Scout who was in the 1999 games but was eliminated at the final turn, and so she has come back to wreak revenge! For this to happen the company asks / requires three young members of the audience to help them, and in fact they are required to do quite a lot on stage. I wonder what the company would do if they were unable to find any willing youngsters or indeed there were no youngsters in the audience, a significant part of their show would have to be improvised.
In fact the company relies quite a lot on the reactions and implicit participation of the whole audience - much in the same way pantomime does, and indeed this show is very pantomimic at times.
Ideally there could have been a some judicial cuts to the show this evening and made it into a jolly rip-roaring one hour entertainment; the inclusion of an interval and a shorter second act felt a little drawn out and unnecessary.
The actors put a lot of energy into this show and this bares dividend but the show relies entirely on these adults being believably around 13 years' old which - like here - is usually done as a parody. In other words we all know they are adults but they pitched their caricatures too young and we were given adults acting more like petulant preteens than anything else. It's all a little tongue-in-cheek and nothing is taken seriously though, so perhaps I am being a little too disingenuous.
It's fun, upbeat, and does not require anything on the part of the audience except complicity and participation as required.
Reviewer- Alastair Zyggu
on - 11.6.25
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