Words: Elodie Marriott
Image: Dylan Woodley

5 stars

If you encountered a naked man in a frilly ruff attempting to spin in 80 circles, normally you would avert your eyes. But if that man is Garry Starr, not only would you look, but you would happily pay £13 for the privilege. Although, he’s not totally bare. He wears flippers.

Garry Starr’s highbrow pipe-smoking persona is on a mission to save li-chu-ra-chure — specifically books written by penguins — from extinction. To attract the masses, he appeals to our ‘lowbrow’ tastes with farcical interpretations of the revered novels.

Starr inspires a special kind of exhilarated terror. He raises fervid anticipation with every book, as we eagerly try to guess which classic he will joyfully desecrate next. Always ten steps ahead, he takes you for an outrageously silly ride, the revelations increasingly hilarious and will change the way you hear Moon River and Year 3000 forever.

Whenever the shock factor of his nudity wanes, (warning to the uninitiated: it’s only ever a slight desensitisation), Starr performs the most concentrated combination of the unexpected and indecent. Stunts based on One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and The Bodysurfers produce an audience-wide buzz, collectively questioning, he won’t, surely not… but he does, and incredibly, induces audience members to dive into the mayhem too.

There are so many highs to the show without the energy on his part or the interest levels of the crowd ever dropping. Seeing Classic Penguins this Fringe will become a prized bragging right for those brave enough to experience it.

Garry Starr: Classic Penguins
Pleasance Courtyard- Forth
20:30
Aug 17-20, 22-26