Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut @ The Macrobert

Straight from this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Gilded Balloon and the Tron Theatre companies present Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut. Jimmy Chisholm explains in his mini-prologue that the cast, consisting of him, Gavin Mitchell and Clare Waugh, plan to perform parts of Casablanca for "your delectation."

Mitchell enters, and tries out a few lines on Jimmy, asking for advice on how to perform them. He begins to consider ways of getting around the no-smoking law to avoid being fined. As the cast inform the audience, in the film one cigarette was lit approximately every three minutes. In fact they don't; instead, every time someone is about to light a cigarette, they yell 'no smoking' at each other. "We can mime it," Mitchell thinks out loud, demonstrating immediately. Clare Waugh stumbles upon stage, looking for her swastika. Both she and Chisholm agree that miming smoking just doesn't look right. 

All characters are played by the flexible trio, aside from Sam the pianist - who is represented by a miniature statue. Their impressions of the original actors are remarkably spot on, while their energy remains high throughout. Additionally, the stark contrast between moments of comical commentary and scenes taken directly from the film only further underlines the flexibility and skill of the actors, especially by the impressive ease with which they slip in and out of character - or out of one character and into another.

This is particularly clear in Chisholm's notable performance as both Victor Lazlo and the French captain Louis Renaud, which is entertaining if nothing else. A moment when both characters are part of the same scene leads to humorous chaos for both the actors and the audience. With swastikas and Nazis, a slightly overly-effeminate French captain, a statue of a black pianist, repeated attempts at smoking, and parodied versions of the love scenes from the original, Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut takes apart the film, but is also side-splittingly funny in the process. Definitely worth seeing! [Eric Karoulla]