★★★★★
The Black Blues Brothers return to Edinburgh Fringe with a bang, as they bring their newest show Let’s Twist Again to Underbelly’s McEwan Hall. Featuring new music, new dancing and even more thrilling tricks, their return has been greatly anticipated: the venue (with a capacity of roughly 1000 seats) was packed.
The show takes place in a train station, with a background track of bustling people and plumes of smoke billowing out from the side of the stage. It’s quite a long introduction before the Brothers come on stage, but it is more than worth it. After swaggering on stage, full of charm and dressed in trench-coats and dark sunglasses, they launch into a series of skits, dance moves and captivating acrobatics that have the audience eating out of the palms of their hands.
The skits, sequenced between the lively acrobatic routines, mainly centre around one of the brothers, who is amid an argument with his girlfriend. He keeps receiving phone calls from her, and judging by the chirping sounds we hear, it’s not good news. These scenes are just as high quality as their stunts. It is impressive how much personality and hilarity can come from a skit with no verbal language.
Some of the routines, such as a jump rope scene and a limbo competition under a railway stop sign, are very similar to last year’s show, but they are still highly entertaining. The rest of the stunts are terrifying and captivating at the same time. They form a human train, complete with wheels; dive roll through hoops with their arms at their side, only moving to put them on the floor at the last minute; and perhaps most impressively (or scary, depending on your perspective), a human pyramid featuring one of the troupe doing a headstand on another one’s head.
The command and control they have of their bodies is incredible, but they act like it is effortless, jumping down from the stunts with wide smiles and arms outstretched to encourage a well-deserved round of applause from the audience. Furthermore, they look like they’re having an absolute ball on stage, and their energy is contagious. You can’t help but like them.
If you’re looking for a light-hearted, highly enjoyable show guaranteed to wow, Black Blues Brothers: Let’s Twist Again is a must-watch. Thrilling and impressively polished, their antics are captivating, and will make you laugh and gasp with wonder.
Black Blues Brothers: Let’s Twist Again will be performed at Underbelly – McEwan Hall until 25 August as part of Edinburgh Fringe.
Words by Ellen Leslie
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