EDINBURGH 2019: Review: DREAMGUN: FILM READS, Underbelly, Bristo Square

Dreamgun's Film Reads rewrites films scripts for comic effect. The four writers team up with actors and comedians, who are seeing the script for the first time. Our sell-out night focuses on reading aloud their version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but the creators also have a varied repertoire including Spider-Man, Jurassic Park and The Lord of the Rings.

The Harry Potter theme tune plays, creating an excited atmosphere amongst the audience. The set is simple and functional with stools and mics for the cast. We are introduced to two of the writers, Stephen Colfer and Heber Hanly, who take on equally major characters alongside the cast, with Hanly playing the title role of Harry.

The script revels in plot holes and highlights key moments which make furthering the action implausible and hilarious. Comedian Hannah Mamalis has an affable presence, becoming Professor McGonagall and Hermione Granger, adapting to her many roles with perfect ease. Ed Salmon delights the crowd with a stunning impersonation of Severus Snape, causing the whole cast to corpse uncontrollably, due to his confident use of slow pace.

The clever script also has us in stitches over the superiority of direct staircases as opposed to wizard ever-changing staircases, a magic harp playing Enya, and explanations that the worst type of muggles frankly do not read The Guardian. Enjoyable wordplay includes changing the Dursleys' surname to the Drongos and reimagining Neville Longbottom's name as Chamberlain (MP!) and Chambermaid.

Huge laughs come at the reflection: "Another year gone, another teacher melted." Dreamgun's Film Reads is an absolute wonder. A strong script performed expertly.

Catch their performance until 25 August: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/dreamgun-film-reads

The show is recorded in front of a live audience for their podcast which can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/dreamgunandsons

Photo credit: Killian Broderick

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