Troll – Adelaide Fringe 2024 Review

[Comedy - Clown              International -  Australian Premiere] The Chapel at The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum Wed 13 Mar 2024 ‘Cute’ is the word most heard after coming out from this world of giant trolls. These two clowns take their own sweet time to introduce themselves, as we are transported to their legendary land of playfulness. In Troll country the language is gibberish to us, although it may actually be Norwegian. So physical gestures are required to communicate, the international language of comedy. After some time they subvert this by reverting to English. Laughter is generated from the start by the fairy tale setting, and the comical characters innocently interacting with human beings, who are tolerated as strange foreigners. With their animalistic nature they rely very much on their senses, especially smell - cue the noses - and this allows for plenty of hilarious interplay. The duo of Anna Marie Simonsen and Marie Kallevik Straume obviously have a close, trolly relationship, which is later confirmed as familial. Their clown connection is considerably more polite than we are accustomed to with duos. Normally a clown duo takes every opportunity to take their differences to extremes, and the see-saw squabbling rarely gets to level off. These two are clearly not as opposite. They seem to not want any friction to fester, preferring to forgive and move on to the next fun game. Perhaps this is due to them both being female trolls, favouring reconciliation over altercation, or possibly because giant trolls could do quite a lot of damage when really upset. I remember now that we were warned near the beginning, not on any account to upset them. When one troll does lose it and destroys a house, they again manage to redeem the situation amicably. And some troll-type dances help to keep things on an even keel. Within this wacky whimsy is a tale about one goat, a baddie who survives to presumably do more bad stuff. We don’t get the three goats, but who’s counting? The attention to detail and total involvement of the entire audience is what matters, and they accomplish this with ease, not once needing to have their tails between their legs. It is always a delight when I feel that jolt, as happened here, when the people realise they have to depart from this magical world of theatre and return to their perception of reality. 4.5 Stars David Cronin Troll continues at The Chapel at The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum 6.50pm until March 17th. Book at FringeTIX and adelaidefringe.com.au Click HERE to purchase your tickets: #TheClotheslineMag #ADLfringe