Spaces @ Surgeons Hall, 18.10, £8/6
The blurb for this show got me interested “Immerse yourself in a world torn between Ancient Roman culture and 90s pop…Caesar, drama and the Spice Girls have never been so seamlessly fused!”
First of all I’ll be honest and say I love 90s cheesy pop. And men in togas are interesting too. There were both of these in abundance!
The show is by Cambridge Fools, but fools they are not. Students and graduates from Cambridge University and Bodywork Performing Arts School have put on this fantastic show with enough classics references but with the story itself being told in a ‘Carry On’/panto style.
The story follows naive and shy Quintus as he struggles to become a ‘proper Roman’. He is being set up with a wife he doesn’t want as he has fallen in love with Melissa, a slave. He encounters the Emperor, his promiscuous daughter, a ‘poet’ (read: gansta rapper) and more, with highs and lows along the way.
The standout characters were Tom England as hairy, more experienced slave Grumio,Tom Pye as his Frank Spencer-esque sidekick Clemens and Lucie Shorthouse who played the beautiful slave girl Melissa. She is the traditional triple threat with great singing, dancing and acting skills.
England and Pye were a fantastic comedy double act with impeccable timing and for me, they stole the show.
When in Rome…is very much a guilty pleasure but as could be seen from the sell-out crowd, this is obviously not a bad thing to the Fringe visitors.
The audience laughed throughout and some members even gave the cast a standing ovation.
If you want to switch off your brain and just enjoy a piece of amusing theatre and some cheesy music, this is the show to see.
I loved every minute of it and I’m not ashamed to say so.
4 stars
Words: Adelle Hopkins
Photos: Gareth Hughes
