REVIEW: Are You Lovin' It?, Colchester Fringe Festival ✭✭✭✭✭

Paul T Davies reviews Are You Lovin' It?  presented by Japan's Gumbo Theatre at the Colchester Fringe Festival.

Are You Lovin’ It? Headgate Theatre, Colchester Fringe Festival. 5 Stars Colchester Fringe Festival With acts from all over the world taking part in the Colchester Fringe Festival, we get to see the wondrous, wacky, and brilliantly funny Are You Lovin’ It? A show that feels distinctly Japanese, the piece parodies a certain worldwide food chain, here called WacDonalds, and not be confused with any other brand. It’s frenetic, with superb audience interaction, as we meet certain stereotypes, the Japanese businessman working himself to death, and the Tiger Mother, happy to bring her child up on fizzy drinks and junk food. From Osaka, Gumbo Theatre are physical theatre specialists, the energy of the piece never drops. All three performers, Kayo Tamura, Nono Miyasaka and Ryo Nishihara, are superb, and embody the spirit of the Fringe, madcap, off-beat, but bitingly savage in its satirical approach, demonstrating American Globalization through the true world leaders, a fast-food chain. There is a catchphrase we all join in with, the true inner selves of selected audience members are revealed, and American politics are handled with aplomb and cheekiness. The audience bought into it immediately, and it’s clear to see why this show is a multi-award winner at Fringe Festivals around the world. What a joy to have them here, and huge Kudos to Colchester Fringe, still a young festival, to attract companies of this international quality.