‘An enjoyable and erotic hour of environmental activism and Instagram humour’
Rhino Conservation Erotic Novel is about a Rhino Conservation Erotic Novel. Rhinos and eroticism, you may ask – what’s the overlap?
Plenty, say performers Daniel Trengrove and Gabriel Madden! For the rhinos are going extinct and they need erotica more than any of us – in order to reproduce. As such, Trengrove and Madden have taken it upon themselves to save the rhino population through the form of innovative platform HornHub (no affiliation to the other Hub). Cue PowerPoint presentation of rhino pictures and rhino porn categories. It’s a PowerPoint heavy show, as the performers take a series of bits that would hit incredibly hard in the form of an Instagram Reel and mostly successfully stitch them together into an hour-long Fringe show.
Trengrove and Madden are sort of incredibly low energy performers in a very, very funny way: they’ve really got that Gen Z ironic detachment on lock. “Oh, I’m so hurt from being shot in the head”, Trengrove deadpans at maximum 30 decibels during the show’s CLIMAX (haha). But they’re at their best when spontaneously interacting with the audience – they seem slightly scared of the slightly scary front row, exchanging a bit of small talk.
“I followed you on Instagram”, says a member of the audience to Madden.
“Did you like any of the content?”
“Not yet”
“Did you follow me on Instagram?”, asks Trengrove.
“Not yet”
There’s something about the dark hotel backrooms of The Apex venue that really aids a show like this: there are so many people in such a small space, it is so sweaty, and every slightly too loud exhale is funny. Trengrove and Madden are aware of this, and lean into the awkwardness of every tech mishap or wrongly-admitted audience member to great comic effect:
The dynamic is, roughly: Madden is the cuck (?) and Trengrove is the girlfriend-stealing semi-straight man. They’re both incredibly talented comics and have a familiar banter with each other, including near-kisses several times throughout. Will they, won’t they? They won’t, because of Madden’s gonorrhea.
Overall, Rhino Conservation Erotic Novel is a surreal and smart hour of disparate themes (air fryers, poaching, pornography) brought together by two gifted performers with a knack for crowdwork and graphic design. Viva la rhinos!
Show Listing: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/rhino-conservation-erotic-novel
LISTINGS INFORMATION:
Venue: Hoot 6 at Hoots @ The Apex
Dates: Aug 7th-31st
Time: 22:40 (60 mins)
Ticket prices: £11.50
Fringe box office: 0131 226 0000 / http://www.edfringe.com
Suitable for 16+