Turn Your Fucking Phones Off ★★★★★

Turn Your Fucking Phones Off — Switch On, Tune In and Prepare to Be Frazzled ★★★★★

Hannah Maxwell has done it again. Turn Your Fucking Phones Off is another five-star show from a performer and theatre-maker who continues to create work that is smart, creative and completely distinctive.

If you haven’t seen Maxwell’s previous work, you’re missing out.

From the moment you walk into the space, you know you’re in for something different. Even the way the theatre is set up immediately starts playing with expectations. The production is top-notch, taking familiar theatrical and technical elements and turning them completely on their head.

The result is a show that deliberately frazzles your brain.

It’s fast, incredibly fast, but that speed is part of its brilliance. Maxwell bombards you with ideas, comedy and theatrical trickery, keeping you constantly alert while somehow making everything absorbable. You’re thinking, laughing and trying to work out exactly what they doing to you, all at the same time.

The script is absolutely brilliant: clever, confronting, tightly structured and packed with detail. There’s stealth beneath the silliness and real strength behind the comedy. It’s theatrical magic with the efficiency of a Tesco meal deal.

Maxwell is brilliant, commanding the room while pulling the audience willingly into the chaos. Fans of her previous work will also spot little throwbacks, particularly to, I Am Dram. For me, having previously experienced ReindeerFleabag, there was something wonderfully full-circle about watching this latest creation come to fruition.

This is exactly what Fringe theatre should do: experiment with form, challenge its audience and leave you wondering what the fuck just happened, while desperately wanting more.

If Turn Your Fucking Phones Off isn’t on your radar, put it there immediately.

In fact, ignore the title for just long enough to turn your phone back on and book a ticket.

Then turn the fucking thing off.

★★★★★ 5 stars