A wonderful and weird performance for both the initiated and uninitiated in DnD.
The Tartan Tabletop crew has returned to the Fringe Festival stage with a new interactive adventure: Tartan Tabletop in a Dungeons & Dragon Comedy: The Never-Ending Quest-The Return. The gloriously chaotic podcasting team has prepared a month’s worth of action packed one shots in front of a live theatrical audience. This trial by fire introduction to the uninitiated in the ways of live-action, tabletop, role playing games was a wonderful and absurd experience. With a dramatic cast of characters and actors, this was an hour well spent amongst a packed audience of nerds, geeks, and the unexpecting family or two.
Beginning with some lively crowd work and audience participation, the experience is preceded with a light introduction to the world of tabletop playstyle and the cast of the evening. Every evening will consist of a slightly different narrative adventure and cast which is doubtless crafted with care and imaginative consideration for the audience in mind. The adventure, itself, was equal parts funny and absurd. It was a refreshingly chaotic bit of narrative wrapped in the familiar trappings of DnD. This was its greatest strength and its greatest downfall as a live performance. It was evident that this group is used to performing and playing various adventures in a vastly different timescale than what the Fringe Festival stage permits. Constrained to the limits of an hour, the whole experience felt rushed. This left the party unable to accomplish much outside of the main objective and even that was masterfully brushed over by the Dungeon Master and Host.
Although there is room for improvement regarding pacing, this is a great concept and team. The fact it does not fit nicely within the constraints of the allotted hour is a testament to its strength as a performance. The impossible challenge inherent in this melding of media is to create a formula that works within the chaos of a tabletop game that also conforms to a timescale. Overall this was a great show with some fantastic improvisation that could easily occupy twice the timeslot quite effectively. For all those interested in an introduction into DnD or looking to enjoy an hour of unabashed creativity and unhingedness, this is the show for you.









