Hold On To Your Butts – Arcola Theatre

Hold On To Your Butts, the frenetic, exceedingly clever work of New York-based company Recent Cutbacks, is exactly what it purports to be. Originating ten years ago with sold out performances in New York and recently transferring from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the show is (as far as I can tell, a completely faithful) shot-for-shot theatrical parody of Stephen Spielberg’s iconic tale of a dinosaur theme park that goes horribly wrong. But knowing that, and subsequently knowing the general plot (Arrival. Dinosaurs. Chaos Theory. Power Failure. Velociraptor Hijinks.) does nothing to capture the ingenuity and delight of this show. 

From the very beginning, when one’s eyes fall on the rickety-sparse stage, awash in a thin fog and a deep, anticipatory green lighting (courtesy of designer Christopher Nairne), with the original Jurassic Park score sweeping over the din of the settling audience, it’s obvious this is going to be a fun show. Things only get better from there. Kristin McCarthy Parker’s direction surpasses one’s wildest expectations for a comedy parody show, and, in conjunction with developers Nick Abeel, Kyle Schaefer, and Blair Busbee, approaches the original source material with a wild ingenuity. From the use of wooden rectangles to capture the frame of the camera to the rendering of found objects into the forms (mostly paleobiological) that populate this world (Claw. Tail. Gun. Neck Frill.), from the audience interaction to the playing in the seating space to the refreshing use of darkness and flashlight, HOTYB consistently surprises in a way that few shows do, even with most people knowing the plot! 

The performances inspire in equal measure. HOTYB is helmed by two actors (Jack Baldwin and Laurence Pears) who play all the characters and foley artist (Charlie Ives) who makes all the sounds and has one exceptionally well placed non-foley cameo. Baldwin and Pears approach all the characters they build with a hilarious specificity (Baldwin’s sultry Jeff Goldblum, in particular, steals the show), and their capacity for physical transformation (mostly into different dinosaurs) boggles and gratifies. Ives, meanwhile, elevates the sound to a main character, her presence pumping fun and vitality into the action without ever taking away.

While the rapid pace (75 minutes, an hour shorter than the original) and light tone leave audiences without the same kind of narrative gratification that a science-fiction action film does, HOTYB is a miracle. In addition to all the small details, the seemingly endless font of humour, the show does something very special in comedy, especially parody: it manages to be ironic and earnest at the same time. This is obviously the work of people who love Jurassic Park and who are having so much fun. Audiences will too, whether they’ve seen the movie a million times or never before. 

Playing until 11th January 2025, https://www.arcolatheatre.com/

Reviewer: Zak Rosen

Reviewed: 12th December 2024

North West End UK Rating: