“I knew that the principles there, with some good production and the right story, could make a spectacular show.”
WHO: Stephen Case
WHAT: “The world’s only theatrical escape room! You are the crew of a robot and everything has gone wrong! Help! The stunning visual effects and immersive interactive technology mean kids aged 5 to 95 will be enthralled in this thrilling, educational and hilarious spectacular. Back with new challenges and a new story for 2023 – fans of puzzles, games and silly dances can’t miss this unique Fringe experience brought to you for a strictly limited run. Come see us in the iconic Big Caves venue like you have never seen it before.”
WHERE: Just the Tonic at The Caves – Just the Big Room (Venue 88)
WHEN: 13:30 (60 min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
This is my sixth Fringe and my second with this show. This show -Inside the Robot- in particular benefits from a “trial by Fringe”. What I mean there is that it is very hard to find a space in everyday live entertainment that allows you to do something as unique as “Escape Room Comedy Show on Stage” for 130 people a day with enough regularity to get it to a place where it works. What I like about the Fringe is that the audiences take more chances on shows and, to an extent, understand that they are part of the process of creation. I come from a video game design background where beta players offering a year or mores feedback is the norm before a game officially releases. In many ways the Fringe is that beta environment for live shows.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
So much! Last year was our first time doing the show. No one, to our knowledge, had ever tried to do something as complex as turning a 130 seater venue into a huge daily theatrical escape room. We did not market it at all last year because we just were not sure if it would work. We are back, so I hope that tells you it did! People kept finding us. The most important thing we learned is that kids are smart! We had planned for an hour long show, but the kids were solving the puzzles too quickly – they were out the door after 45 minutes. We quickly put some new puzzles in during the run. This year I hope that when any kids return for a repeat performance they will be pleasantly surprised by all the cool things we have added.
Tell us about your show.
The show came out of me designing large escape rooms for classrooms. This is an area of creativity in education that has been around for a good decade now. I knew that the principles there, with some good production and the right story, could make a spectacular show. We started off by doing a show for adults in Malaysia (where Escape Rooms are very popular). It was fun, but we found that half the show we were explaining things to people that they really should have remembered from school! We realised, actually, we had a kids show on our hands. This was great because that meant we could lean into the education and the silly. The idea formed of having the audience be the crew of a giant robot in space where everything has gone wrong! From there, we started building out fun games with solid STEM educational foundations (all the cool science stuff!). Luckily our team has a skilled game designer, an amazing programmer and great comedy writer on it so those skills all coalesced to make the show a one of a kind experience.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
There are a lot of good shows around the Fringe that fit the Lego 3-99+ age bracket, where grandparents and grandkids can have a great time together. I would recommend Board Game Smack Down for this. Just comedians playing boards games on stage but a super fun show that will give you loads of ideas for how to spend a device free camping weekend with the family. I also recommend any of the clean showcases at the Free Festival – not aimed at kids but you can be comfortable that the shows will be PG rated. In this category too is Darren Walsh, lots of puns, puns and more puns! Oh and go see Olaf Falafel too, really silly and fun – you’ll love it.
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