Escape Room: The Musical - The Fancy Room, Just the Tonic at The Caves - Edinburgh Fringe Review

Six people who used to be the best of friends at University, but have subsequently grown apart, are all mysteriously invited to take part in an escape room in the Caves at the Edinburgh Fringe. They used to love solving puzzles together, but no one knows why they are suddenly here to solve one last mystery, or do they?

In ‘Escape Room: The Musical’ by Grown Up Playhouse Productions, we see the six friends, joined by Pierre, an enigmatic French man who doesn’t seem to know why he’s there and is on a time limit (he’s got other fringe shows to get to), solve the puzzles and realise that each solution pushes them to revisit past events and their own mistakes, revealing hidden secrets. In this comedic mystery musical, we question, just how far would you go to not only make people own up to past faults, but to bring former friends back into each other’s lives?

Each character is well written, believable and, at times, relatable. Johnny with a hat, played by Dennis Hughes, earns many a laugh as the energy filled extrovert, perhaps not grown out of his class clown phase, yet full of heart as his own secrets work their way to the surface. Hermione Lester’s Ellie knows best, the brainiac of the group who believes herself to be the greatest puzzle solver; bossy at times, with a strong sibling rivalry with Emily Holland’s Poppy, the popular girl who is perhaps not the brightest academically, but she’s got the street smarts. Liv (Izzie Roll) Johnny with a hat’s girlfriend, has a commanding energy, putting him in his place constantly, perhaps dulling his clowning personality, whilst Lizzy Mond’s Max believes in action over words.

Johnny Jay (James Taylor) is fidgeting and constantly nervous but pushes to dig a little deeper into the secrets, especially about what happened on one particular night out those years ago. Pierre, played by Félix Marceau, proves an fan favourite, asking the questions that the audience wish they could ask, pushing the others to keep solving the puzzles, keep talking about hidden truths, earning many a laugh especially with his French catchphrases.

The idea of former friends confronting their past through the puzzles of an escape room is a fun and exciting concept and, for the most part, it is very well executed here. There are a couple of plot holes, especially around Pierre, who although he may delight with his comic timing and witty comments, we never quite find out why he is there. He comes running in a few minutes late from the audience as in thrown in a deep end, with no explanation and the viewers are never told why. I found myself assuming that the Escape Room had a minimum team number of seven and Pierre just so happened to be the next person waiting, like when they count people onto a carriage of a rollercoaster and you could end up being sat next to a stranger.

The songs are fun, catchy and very well performed by all cast members but, unfortunately, the entire performance was plagued by sound issues. At first it was just one or two mics being quiet, but then speakers crackled, some people become difficult to hear, and, at one point, one performer was left to finish her song acapella when the music completely stopped. She handled it like a pro though, I have to say. Whilst this did slightly impact the overall enjoyment factor of the piece, I feel this was more of a venue issue, perhaps loss of signal in the cave surroundings, then with the production itself as it felt as if the cast were doing everything that they could to overcome it.

‘Escape Room: The Musical’ is a funny, comical and silly exploration of friendship, hidden truths, the re-evaluating of past events and relationships. The characters are fun and you will leave the show with a smile on your face, but with a little bit of work on the introduction and explanation of Pierre and some better sound equipment, there could be a future for this piece.