Life at the Molecular Level

As you wander from the Gilded Balloon Teviot, past the Grolsch Green and down to the Smirnoff Underbelly, it’s easy to forget that the Edinburgh Fringe Festival once meant exactly that. Before the hype and the sponsorship, it was a place where you could catch a handful of small acts deemed too "fringe," too experimental for the main festival. This baffling and gloriously surreal show proves that, beyond the Bowens and the Barrymores, the experimental spirit of the Fringe still lives on.

It should come as no great surprise that Life at the Molecular Level is difficult to understand. After all, life at the molecular level is difficult to understand. Scientists have been studying it for years, and it might take just as long to work out everything that goes on in this literally extraordinary show that, probably for the first time, marries dance, comedy and storytelling with ready meals, karaoke and some excellent hats.

All three performers are possessed of a remarkable confidence, especially considering that—hats aside—their costumes comprise only boxer shorts, socks and tatty vests. This confidence serves them well, too, since at times the many disparate elements of the show hang together by the very thinnest of threads.

After about half an hour the heady mix of microwaved meatballs and karaoke power ballads became simply too much for one poor audience member, and an air of utter confusion surrounded those who did stick with it to the end. But for anyone who prefers their theatre with a healthy dose of the absurd, Life at the Molecular Level is worthy of careful study.