A very funny retelling of an unfathomable true story

Inspired by an incredible true story dubbed ‘Dumb and Dumber Bandits’, this madcap caper is the perfect fringe evening. 

We meet Brad and Chad on their gap year when they decide to rob a bank on a whim. We then follow their journey from their escape, capture and sentencing to their release. With verbatim dialogue we also touch on the victims’ experience of the process and recovery, giving the piece dramatic weight alongside the sheer stupidity. 

The cast, made up of James Akka, Barney Newman, Maggie Moriaty and Gemma Duabney, is very impressive. Multi-roling across accents and characters, the switches are clear and entertaining. Where their skills really stand out is just how much they are listening to each other. I’m a big fan of scripts which have characters talk over each other, and for actors to still be listening in these moments is masterful. 

Production wise, everything was slick, with creative staging and props which compliment the style of the show perfectly. Character changes are bolstered by props/additional costumes and I’m always a huge fan of a useless moustache that falls off during a scene. 

Where I think this show really excels is in the creativity of the storytelling – lots original and out of the box ideas which really feeds into the pace and hilarity. 

The messy ending being cleaned up for production was a nice metaphor for understanding reality in story-telling, but was a bit of an anticlimax when you find the true story is way more complicated.

Definitely go watch this.