Catty Watty strides into centre stage and stridently asks: “Do you want to build…..”, she pauses for dramatic effect, “………… a bungalow?”
It’s a packed out show at The Beehive and the children – most of who are around six years old or younger – all shout and scream a raucous “Nooooooooo!” at the tops of their little lungs.
“Ooh! I can’t remember the words! …..What do you want to build, then?” asks Catty Watty innocently.
“A snowman!” they all scream back disjointedly and delightedly, stamping their feet “A SNOWMAN!!! A SNOWMAN!!!”.
This cues a karaoke version of a song that, after careful investigation by a team of lawyers, might be considered to bear some resemblance to the different song entitled ‘Do You Want To Build a Snowman’ (©The Walt Disney Company Inc 2013). Meanwhile Nicko, Catty Watty’s partner-in-crime, constructs a small snowman from sausage balloons.
And they love it! The children know all the songs from Walt Disney’s smash hit film, Frozen (2013), by heart; and are having a totally amazing hilarious time. In fact, it’s more than halfway through the show and they’ve been having a totally amazing hilarious time since about ten seconds into it when Catty Watty’s hand-held snow machine made its first appearance (it’s pretty much a ubiquitous prop thereafter, and seems to have the same effect on the young audience as laughing gas).
For this is Defrosted: the two-man Edinburgh Fringe panto that doesn’t so much copy Frozen, as….erm……… actually have very little to do with it. But no one feels short-changed. Catty Watty and Nicko No-Nonsense keep all the ‘little persons’ fully and uproariously engaged with silly walks, silly dances, silly faces, slapstick routines with metal trays that are relentlessly walked into, a range of puppets, and the ever-present snow machine.
Another great thing about this panto act is that adults who yearn for the 1970s are simply not catered for at all. So you won’t find any innuendos, suggestive body language, double-entendres, or nudges and winks in Defrosted. Excellent! The whole thing is also perfectly timed for little minds (i.e. mine) and ends after 60 minutes of mayhem with a big singalong, audience participation on stage, and a perfect snowstorm – courtesy of Catty Watty’s snow machine, of course.
As I walked back to the town centre afterwards (the Beehive car park was full when I arrived, darn!), I noted droves of young children skipping around and chortling in high spirits as they walked with happy adult relatives. Defrosted certainly does what it says on the tin, even if the Frozen ingredients are writ somewhat small…..
Review by Neil Madden
Catty Watty explains something very important to Nicko No-Nonsense
Catty Watty chastises Nicko No-Nonsense with her snow machine
Catty Watty and Princess Anna – sporting a ‘mullet with a plait’ – ruin a song that, under certain conditions, might be said to resemble the different song called ‘Let It Go’ (©The Walt Disney Company Inc 2013)
