Brendon Ludlow
14 Aug 2026
Big Tobacco’s Pinocchio – When You Wish Upon a Filthy Star ★★★☆☆
★★★☆☆ — 3 Stars
Big Tobacco’s Pinocchio takes the familiar wooden-boy fairy tale and gives it a decidedly adult makeover. Think of it as the American cousin of a British adult panto, filthy, naughty and inappropriate, just without many of the traditional panto-esque bells and whistles.
This is certainly not the Pinocchio you remember from childhood. The script pulls in new themes, unexpected storylines and plenty of adult humour, taking the original tale and dragging it somewhere altogether more debauched.
The Big Tobacco team Brad, Brian, Lindsay and Eli, work exceptionally well together. There’s an easy chemistry between the performers, and they commit wholeheartedly to the absurdity of the material. There are pockets of genuine hilarity scattered throughout the hour, but the script itself is more questionable. Something is missing, that little sprinkle of theatrical fairy dust that would transform a fun concept into something truly memorable.
The Blue Fairy certainly does their best to provide some of that magic, keeping the audience firmly on their toes. To give you a snapshot without completely spoiling the fun: this particular fairy basically wants to fuck everything. Somehow, though, they aren’t even the character displaying the worst behaviour. Welcome to this version of Pinocchio.
It’s silly, filthy and deliberately ridiculous, and when the jokes land, they land well. With some tightening and a little more magic in the script, there’s potential for something much stronger.
As it stands, if you’re looking for a naughty, funny and slightly unhinged hour to kick-start your evening at the Fringe, Big Tobacco’s Pinocchio will happily get the wood out.
★★★☆☆