Elf Lyons @ Underbelly Med Quad

A take on Swan Lake involving parrots, sharks and crocodiles

Review by Nadia Younes | 15 Aug 2017

Elf Lyons is dressed in a parrot costume; that is by no means the weirdest thing that she does in this show. She also conducts the entire show speaking in Frenglish (a combination of broken French and English), dons a shark head mask and green feather duster, serenades the audience with a crocodile hand puppet and ends the show in a lobster costume, while the crowd blow bubbles and throw snow tissue paper back at her.

This all features in scenes from Lyons’ somewhat deconstructed version of the ballet Swan Lake. She reenacts the ballet scene-by-scene and act-by-act, with a little help from the audience for props and ambience, and jokes about the madness of the story behind it in between.

It is hard to tell whether Lyons has put a lot of thought into this show or very little at all. It is probably the former while she makes it look like the latter. Regardless, Swan is hugely entertaining – and rather insane.


Elf Lyons: Swan, Underbelly, Med Quad (Clover), until 28 Aug (not 15), 9.30pm, £8-10

http://www.theskinny.co.uk/festivals/edinburgh-fringe/comedy