More sex and violence: Playfight @sohotheatre

The piece starts as a bedtime story. Daddy (Mark Underwood) is about to read a bedtime story for Louise (Sarah Louise Hughes). But her stomach felt funny, and soon, she went to the bathroom. Then, for reasons that seem to only make sense in the confines of the show, they start telling the story of four people who died in unfortunate circumstances in the bathroom. Depicted as puppets, they’re stuck in purgatory as St Peter doesn’t have enough space for each of them in the afterlife.
And so begins a puppet battle for the afterlife, adjudicated by an expert in dying on the throne, Elvis. Along the way, there is a visit from the Queen, Margaret Thatcher and the former East German leader Erich Honecker. And a lifesize version of Gandhi who says things that are borderline bizarre or offensive. It’s often a combination of random ideas mixed with random world leaders. Depending on your thoughts on German / English politics and toilet humour, you may enjoy it way more than you should.
Accompanying the action are a series of songs written by German pop-composer Tobias Künzel and Mark Underwood. Künzel has previously written children’s musicals; and this one seems like a smuttier, poppier version full of non-sequiturs and toilet humour. Whether this show is the sort of show that will have long runs in the fringe is debatable, but it’s bonkers enough to develop a following of sorts. Just don’t think about it too much.
Directed by Blair Anderson, Death on the Throne is Upstairs at the Gatehouse until 13 April.
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