String V SPITTA @ Pleasance Courtyard

String v SPITTA tells the story of two feuding children’s party entertainers, collaborating in a one-off performance for the daughter of a Russian oligarch. Kiell Smith-Bynoe’s MC SPITTA is a rising star who dominates East London parties – relaxed, able to freestyle and social media-savvy – while Ed McArthur is the machiavellian Mr String, an uptight personification of privilege who is slowly losing his grip on the West London market to his competitor. It’s a tale as old as time; SPITTA’s wave of popularity with the privileged kids of West London cheekily echoes the short-lived white middle class enthusiasm for Grime back in 2016.

The show is as fun as it is creative – it feels like nothing else you’ll see this year – weaving across genres and blurring lines between audience and characters. Freestyle rap and piano-based renditions of children’s playground songs dominate, but where the show comes alive most is in the improvisation segments (not surprising, given Smith-Bynoe has not one but two improv shows at the Fringe this week). Having established us as both audience and gathering of young party-goers, we’re pulled in to the performance, helping to build a beat for McArthur’s String to freestyle, and subsequently spiral existentially over. 

It would be great to see a little more variety in tone – the sing-song, knowing voice of a Cbeebies presenter is perfectly replicated, but we're left wanting some shades to contrast against that incessant light. The material does include jokes about sex, and racial profiling, that are clearly targeted for an adult audience, but in between these moments the show still feels like it could be aimed at wee ones. It's certainly immersive, but we're left craving more moments seeing behind the curtain, especially what Mr String is like when he’s not ‘on’.

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String v SPITTA, Pleasance Courtyard (Above), until 26 Aug, 8pm and 10.45pm, £15