Manband - They're Not a Boyband

The show's official Fringe programme entry describes Manband - They're Not a Boyband as “a musical (kind of),” a misleading declaration considering that the theatre piece boasts only a single, paltry song and dance number by way of a crushingly inevitable conclusion. It would be more accurate to describe the StoppedClock production as simply theatre at its least innovative and most two-dimensional.

The narrative depicts a man of indeterminate age who, due to his refusal to embrace his paternal role and his ten year old daughter's penchant for boybands, neglects to buy tickets to see the fleeting pop sensation Static Motion in concert. The father, himself a boyband graduate enjoying a slew of hit singles in Sweden, finds himself reuniting the act as his last shot at redemption- hoping to win a supermarket-sponsored talent contest, and enable his daughter to meet her crushes. Naturally, he, his friends and his estranged partner learn a lot about each other along the way.

Saturated with knowingly bad jokes and a kitschy soundtrack, Manband... is most successful when attempting to provide audiences with entertainment as fleetingly satisfying as the genre it celebrates. Where the show falters is in its efforts to derive pathos and drama from rushed characters and situations completely undeserving of sympathy or attention. Gritty as the query is, lines such as “What the fuck are you looking at, perv?” have no place in what is otherwise a frothy romp.