Colossal Crumbs present Fish Pie – whimsical storytelling at its absolute best. A cast of oddball undersea puppets provide a beautiful observation on human loneliness, bravery and pretension. The ensemble cast gave strong, expressive performances, delivering a masterclass in Fringe theatre – loveable, funny and moving.

The whimsical stories began with Cuthbert, once a tap-dancing champ – now lonesome, constantly mopping his small flat. An unlikely friendship follows; a cute film projected on the screen above our heads. Fish Pie used multimedia very successfully, drawing our attention away from longer scene changes and showing the puppets in situations it would be impossible to stage.

Ludwig followed – adorned with sparkly shoes and moustache his story was a neat critique of everything pretentious and fanciful about the arts. His lobster eyes were particularly expressive, able to blink and frown. Myrtle followed with an unexpected crime narrative; an incredible puppet encasing the puppeteer, a regal and eccentric character.

The Colossal Crumbs team all gave an excellent performance, working cooperatively to maneuver the charming puppets. Howard Sivills stood out vocally, creating several zany side characters including a camp jellyfish.

The one downfall was that many of the details were missed by audience members with restricted views; however the full house left buoyant and smiling. A very highly recommended show.

Here is their trailer for Fish Pie. They also have a lot of other videos on YouTube so it’s well worth checking them out.

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If you see me at a Brighton Fringe Event - please do come and say hello, and share your personal experience of the Festival.

Jessica Cheetham runs Spun Glass Theatre; a Brighton theatre company devoted to personal protest through words and worlds. She is also the Social Media Coordinator for Root Experience.