Suggestions of the Unexpected – The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall

The creators of Any Suggestions, Doctor? The Improvised Doctor Who Parody (who are also called Any Suggestions) return after a limited 2023 Fringe run with their improvised anthology in the style of The Twilight Zone, Black Mirror, or whatever that Roald Dahl TV series was called.

With three tales mixing the supernatural and the morality tale – always with humour of course – there is much variety on show, and being a show that changes every night, this is one of the rare occasions when I can illustrate my point without fear of spoilers. On the night I attended, the stories we saw involved an AI (kind of) taking over the world, witchcraft to win a tiddlywinks championship, and a pheasant infestation in an ancestral manor, all based on answers to questions asked of the audience by the host, The Promise Keeper, ably played by Matthew Stallworthy.

The nature of improv is that you don’t know what will happen next and every part will be different, but each member of the cast, Lewis Dunn (also a producer), Louise Jones, James Gamblin and Charles Dean (also the director) got to shine in at least one story. Overall the show was a fun play on short-form moralistic sci/fi fantasy by a solid cast of improvisers. If you like what it says on the tin/poster, you’ll enjoy what you find inside.

Suggestions of the Unexpected is running at The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall until August 24th (except 11th). Tickets can be found at: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/suggestions-of-the-unexpected-an-improvised-horror-anthology

Reviewer: Oliver Giggins

Reviewed: 9th August 2024

North West End UK Rating: