Edinburghj Festival 2009. The Hotel

By Robert Iles - 23rd Aug 2009

The Hotel is promenade theatre crossed with installation art to create a comedy Punchdrunk style show/gallery. Written and directed by Mark Watson and with scores of comedians playing the charged, strange, sinister, or hapless staff, it is an inspired experience to offer an audience and one you’re surprised hasn’t been done before at the Festival.

Though there isn’t quite the substance to make this truly special – you can quite easily run into comedians using their own usual material as part of the event (Idiots of Ants’ songs, the stand ups in the Cabaret bar…) and some set up’s don’t quite reconcile with even the weirdest logic (why are we invited to be privy to a job interview for prospective staff?).

The cursory absurdum and remarkable scale of site specific performance is what makes this well worth seeing.