Created by: Michelle
Reviewer: Lela Tredwell
A joyful improvised performance served up with plenty of laughs.
This delightful show takes audience suggestions and turns them into playful shenanigans in the
fictional Hotel Michelle. All made up on the spot, you can expect whimsy, japes and downright
hilarity in this feel good improvised feast. A happy bunch, the cast visibly delight in each other’s company, as they create spontaneous tales within the surreal world of hospitality.
As soon as the show starts, we are enthusiastically met with a high standard of improvisation. The exchange between two people stuck down a well is particularly hilarious, as is a scene were a couple have come to Hotel Michelle to sample desserts in a themed room. A touching scene
around flower arranging is also well created. And the CCTV team, who are more interested in the minutiae mannerisms and mishaps of their guests, than the spate of jewellery thefts, are an
inspired duo who have the audience rolling about with laughter.
The setting of The Walrus on Ship Street feeds into the hotel ambience. However, regular
disruptions from punters looking for the terrace is distracting. A member of the cast has to keep directing people away from the performance and there are also a number of late comers admitted. The performers however cope admirably with the interruptions. At half time, suggestions made by the audience in a welcome book, complete with fancy pen, are used to create fast monologues.
We then return to the characters we met previously in Hotel Michelle to satisfyingly see what they get up to next. This show serves up a high standard of long-form improvisation, mixed with the flavour of a love affair between Faulty Towers and The Grand Budapest Hotel.
The cast, made up of Jon Nguyen, Folusho Falegan, Teresa Senyah, Isabelle Glinn, Tom Jacob-Ewles, Paul Creasy, Mary Frampton, and Lilla Hodossy, are a lovable team to watch and Hotel embers of the group can also be seen in other improvised shows throughout the Fringe.
If you are looking for uplifting escapism with plenty of laughs, you should go see Hotel Michelle. The service is surely something to write on a postcard home about.
STARS: 4.5
Reviewed on 14th May. Returns on the 17th and 21st May
