Linus Karp Was Hit With An Umbrella ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Just before Fringe 2024, Linus Karp (Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story, Gwyneth Goes Skiing, The Fit Prince) was the victim of a homophobic attack. The case never went to trial... Until now. Linus Karp was hit with an umbrella. The attacker shouted that he would've killed him. The show retells the events and the aftermath – the police investigation, the public response, performing at Edinburgh Fringe days after and the heroic acts of Joseph Martin, and then dramatises the trial that never came to be... It's also funny.”

There is something particularly powerful about watching somebody take an experience that could so easily have remained an incredibly painful memory and turn it into an hour of theatre. Linus Karp Was Hit With An Umbrella takes a very real and deeply unpleasant experience and does something remarkable with it: it lets the seriousness of what happened remain completely intact while still finding space for humour, theatricality, and even moments of authentic joy. But the comedy never feels like it is making light of the attack. Instead, it becomes part of how Linus processes what happened, and that makes the show feel incredibly human.

Direction by Linus Karp and Joseph Martin is good and clever. The staging makes the relatively small performance space useful, with the set and performers finding inventive ways to make the most of it.

At times, the stage can feel slightly stagnant, particularly when the production settles into its storytelling sections, but the overall direction has a strong sense of purpose.

Damien Stanton's set design is similarly clever. Rather than simply creating a backdrop for Linus to stand in front of, the set becomes part of the storytelling plus provides several lovely surprises.

I really appreciated the economy of the design. It doesn't feel like the production is trying to hide the limitations of a Fringe venue; instead, it embraces them and finds creative ways to use what is available.

James Appleby's lighting design is particularly inventive. The lighting isn't limited to lighting the stage; it is also used creatively incorporated into the set itself.

That helps create a greater sense of theatrical scale and gives certain moments a visual identity of their own.

Sound Design and Composition by Kate Marlais is good, with some nice variation in levels throughout the show. It knows when to sit underneath the storytelling yet when to become more noticeable, helping to shape the atmosphere without eclipsing Linus.

The book by Linus Karp, developed with dramaturgy from Haley McGee, is funny, raw and intensely human. What impressed me most is how naturally it moves between tones. One minute you're laughing at something ridiculous, and the next you're confronted with the seriousness of what actually happened. Yet the transition never seems forced or emotionally overwhelming.

There is a real understanding that humour and trauma can exist alongside one another.

The show also does something clever with the fact that the case never went to trial, using theatre to create the trial that never happened. It gives Linus a space to explore the aftermath of the attack and, in a sense, reclaim some control over a situation where he originally had very little. The result is a piece that appears both personal and theatrical.

Linus Karp's performance is deeply affecting. Because this is his own story, almost everything he says carries added emotional weight. There is something very different about watching somebody tell you about something that genuinely happened to them rather than simply playing a character who experienced it. And yet Linus never allows the seriousness of the story to remove his sense of humour. He is incredibly good at dropping a joke into a moment when you least expect it, allowing the audience to breathe before returning to the heavier material.

Linus Karp Was Hit With An Umbrella is a very different beast from the previous Awkward Productions shows, but that change is exactly what makes it so interesting. This isn't Princess Diana. This isn't Gwyneth Paltrow. This is Linus. And there is something remarkably compelling about seeing a performer who has previously built comedy around larger-than-life characters turn the spotlight onto himself. The show doesn't shy away from the ugliness of what happened, but it also refuses to allow that ugliness to be the only thing remembered. Most importantly, the show reminds us that sometimes telling your story can be an act of taking it back.

And if the real trial never happened, theatre is the place to put the experience on the stand finally.

Linus Karp Was Hit With An Umbrella played at Underbelly, Bristo Square (Friesian) as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I cannot wait to see what is next for this show.