JADAR

★★★☆☆

After seeing The Shark is Broken the week prior, the irony of seeing another Spielberg-related adaptation isn’t lost on me… In previous months I’ve caught various other dinosaur themed shows and attractions but none quite like this. Hold on To Your Butts is a complete recreation of the original Jurassic Park movie with some crazy lo-fi twists by the aptly named “Recent Cutbacks”.

The show premiered in 2014 and has since made its rounds in New York, London and the Edinburgh Fringe (prior to this year’s UK tour) with several edits and alterations. 

The night was a little bumpy at first, after hearing there would be a delay in seating guests due to a fault with mic packs, but fortunately the staff swiftly seated the audience in time for the scheduled 8pm start-time.

Upon sitting down, audiences are treated to a variety of dinosaur related songs from ‘Walk the Dinosaur’ to the obligatory Jurassic Park soundtrack. Flicking through my programme, the various word searches, dot-to-dot activities, spot-the-difference puzzles, and DIY instructions were my first clue that maybe the show was aimed more at kids and families than me specifically, despite my love of the franchise and cheesy, witty humour. Regardless, the pages of script excerpts, joke adaptations, and photos from the show dispelled my initial concerns – albeit a little prematurely.

The show started off on a high-point, entertaining audiences with some bizarre film trailer parodies before recreations of the film’s opening credits before literally holding on to each other’s butts. Perhaps this sequence (or the show as whole) would have felt more at home in an early 2000s YouTube skit but it was light-hearted and fun nonetheless.

The set is fairly basic, with a clear projector screen central and the on-stage folie artist’s (Charlie Ives) desk at the side. Alongside crazy a cappella arrangements (Kelsey Didion) of the Jurassic Park theme, she would play the bizarre sound effects for non-existent props, or holler, “Roar [in the distance]”, and squeak like a dinosaur. She was a hilarious addition to the show and made it much more immersive and comedic, with her strange faces and sound-effects being a constant source of entertainment.

Butts somehow crams Spielberg’s two-hour classic into its one-hour run-time with varying degrees of success. The multi-rolling is impressive and seamlessly performed by the shows two performers. Jack Baldwin and Charlie Richards. Their silly voices, spot-on Goldblum impressions, and millions of changes between characters were mind-blowing. They never missed a cue despite the quick pacing. 

The beginning segment hurtles through character introductions and settings at whiplash speeds, ultimately making it difficult to follow the characters and some of the jokes, even for a fan of the franchise. Each character was portrayed with different accents and demeanours, as well as a signature item/prop, whether it be Alan’s signature sunglasses (sometimes disembodied from an actor in the chaotic scenes), Nedry’s Hawaiian shirt, a hand with a tie as the lawyer, or a hat with a mop-looking wig and a measly backpack for the kids.

It ends up feeling like a show kids put on during a family get-together, with all its whimsical and imaginative DIY buffoonery. This works to its advantage with the crazy slapstick moments, misunderstood knock-knock jokes, and creatively pulled together costumes and dinosaurs. However, it also leads to three eye-rolling and out of place poop jokes (not that I’m above this humour, but was it really necessary?).

Regardless, most of the characters were performed flawlessly with added humour to extenuate the characters’ mannerisms and traits. While the “up to code” lawyer jokes a little tiresome, the only character I really had an issue with was John Hammond, who both actors played more as a senile Euphegenia Doubtfire rather than Attenborough’s portrayal of the sympathetic, starry-eyed tycoon. There’s even a moment where he makes a sandwich for what feels like five minutes.

The chaos ensues mainly until the first T-rex attack before a more cohesive structure is formed, thanks in part to the crew splitting up when Alan helps the kids. The attack is one of the show’s biggest highlights as one of the actors dons a green traffic cone and bike helmet, snarling and curling up his arms to become the T-Rex before promptly chewing on Gennaro’s tie. His little arms flailing at the unreachable jeep (once represented by a cardboard door and now by an overturned red chair) is a sight I cannot unsee! Then there’s the ‘cinematic’ frames they used to zoom in on certain effects, and last but not least, a doll re-construction of the jeep’s fall from the cliff-side. Overall, this scene was incredibly well put together and had the perfect balance of creativity, humour and pacing that I ardently craved more of.

Another hilarious highlight was the raptor hide-and-seek sequence were Richards, armed with a flashlight, ran into the stalls to hide before spotting the (literally) “goggle-eyed” raptor (Baldwin) also hidden, snarling and hissing in the audience.

Other dinosaur sequences had Baldwin wearing three party hats as the sick Triceratops, an umbrella as the acid-spitting Dilophosaurus, or bizarrely well-performed impressions of Pterodactyls, Parasaurolophus flock, and Brachiosaurus (all aided by the talented folie).

Despite the show’s creativity, the humour often felt a little too staged and over-rehearsed, and there were surprisingly few self-referential jokes for a movie parody. Other audience members seemed to revel in the humour so perhaps its my taste more than a flaw with the show. The bits that had me cracking up the most were the mistakes, ad-libs, and the genuine chemistry between the trio as they tried not to break character or giggle at each other.

Ultimately, Hold on to Your Butts isn’t pure dino-mite, but it does offer a carefree night of Spielberg nostalgia that families are sure to get a kick out of. The dedication and quick wittedness of the trio is commendable, and some of the gags were wild and memorable moment, but it’s weighed down by numerous awkward jokes and its erratic speed.

Hold on to Your Butts is at The Lowry (Quays Theatre) until February 15 and tours the UK until April 19, with a West End run at the Arts Theatre from April 7 to 12.

Photo: Mark Senior