Back again with another digital fringe review!

This time I am watching 'CrimeLandTown' performed by Ben Goldsmith.

As people arrive into the theatre, they are being greeted by a mob boss on the day of his daughter’s third wedding. As it is her third wedding, any favours granted this day are going to be three times reduced. Everyone in town is here for this momentous day, so surely nothing could go wrong. That is until someone breaks in and riddles him with bullets. We are then thrown into a madcap, hijinks-filled heist story with a whole host of characters, all played by Goldsmith! The actual heist itself is being led by Frenchman Jean Val Jean (no relation) and his crew Dean Martin, Gary Kemp from Spandau Ballet, and Elvis Presley. You know, the usual suspects. The heist is all done hilariously through audience members being given code words that interrupt or assist Jean Val Jean as the story continues.

We also meet lounge singer Des who secretly wants to be a gangster, a former MI5 agent who is going to help the FBI catch the culprits, a news reporter who is totally not upset about not having been invited to the wedding where everything went down in the first place, alongside a host of other mob types.

I can tell that Goldsmith is a funny guy, and I did laugh at a lot of the jokes. However, I just felt the pacing was a little off and that certain elements could have been trimmed down as certain sections went on a tad too long. This sometimes became a little repetitive. I will note, though, that the performance I watched was actually from the 2024 run, so it is quite possible this may have been tightened in the 2025 run!

It’s an enjoyable time with some good laughs, but I felt like it needed to have the pace sped a little and the content trimmed down every so slightly to really make it stand out.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hoping you are all having a lovely start to your new year, and that you are so excited that we are now less than 7 months away from the best time of the year!

Love,

Tony x