Wild Tales for Weird Folk review

Not having heard of either The Embers Collective or Stumble Trip Theatre previously, this felt like an unexpected shot in the dark, but what a breath of uproarious fresh air it was!

Bouncing on to the Bosco Spiegeltent stage in Brighton yesterday with an opening stand up (literally) about how the performer had just torn a hole in his trouser crotch whilst warming up back stage, he proceeded to ask the audience to check the colour of his underpants.

I honestly hadn’t been sure what to expect, but this full frontal and witty assault on the audience “Hello Brighton, you kinky wankers” was met by what felt like a home crowd. Sam Rix ‘Rixy’, amusingly apologised for misleading us all with the publicity “no accordian” (nimble waifs in the forest photoshoot) and the reality, being four disparate performers, although often not on stage at the same time.

He then launched in to a complete tour de force, an epic adventure monologue featuring a cast of many and led by the fictional thin legged character of Steve. I won’t spoil it for you but suffice to say that it was featured some cool imaginary swords and peppered with swear words and profanity, though very amusingly done. Despite the 6.15pm time slot, this is not a show for young children,

Rixy has a natural flair for this kind of performance. We sat enthralled whilst he took us on his imaginary, post modern and self referential tale, whilst accompanied by atmospheric guitar. The guitarist Tim Karp followed this performance up with his own quirky work, which was just a joy.

These proceedings were followed up by clowning with the founders of Stumble Trip Theatre. As expected of two trained at the school of Lecoq, this was a story created through physical performance and offered another type of storytelling to that which proceeded it.

We moved from a tale of the mundane into a forest of mushrooms and freedom. This also was a hit with the viewers and both uplifting and funny.

Another story with a Luton Airport starting point involved the four together. This was a great exploration of the twenty something experience of adult life of sorts.

Wild Tales for Weird Folk has been a new performance at Brighton Fringe this year from both these combined London based groups.

Drawing from a growing contingent of between 20-25 storytellers, musicians, poets, clowns and performers, The Embers Collective alongside performance and storytelling troupe Stumble Trip Theatre tell some really wild tales in this unusual and quirky show.

“Master storytellers.” (Timeout on The Embers Collective)
“Simply outstanding… in the delivery of multiple skills, classic storytelling and madcap humour.”
(Fringe Review on Stumble Trip Theatre)
“Extremely entertaining, very daring and utterly funny.” (Fringe Review)
“Go and see it. It will be good for your soul.” ★★★★ (London Pub Theatres)