Noted ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There are some shows where you spend the entire performance wondering how on earth they are managing to do what they are doing. Noted is very much one of those shows. A completely non-verbal, fast-paced visual comedy extravaganza packed with hand-drawn illustrations, live camera work, movement, music, and an almost absurd level of timing, this is theatre reduced to its most playful form. And somehow, it all works.

The direction was brilliant. Everything feels perfected down to the second, but never loses its sense of playfulness. There is a real understanding of how to make the seemingly impossible look completely effortless, with every movement, reaction and visual gag arriving at exactly the right moment. It is the sort of direction where you can almost see the cogs turning backstage, except the audience is having far too much fun to care.

The choreography and movement are spectacular. Everything is expertly choreographed and timed with extraordinary precision. For a show that relies so heavily on timing, there really is nowhere to hide if even one person is half a second late. Thankfully, this company seem to operate with the accuracy of a Swiss watch, only considerably more ridiculous.

The lighting brings such a lovely sense of whimsy to the performance. It complements the scenic world beautifully and helps make each of the different story worlds feel distinctive. The final ten minutes in particular must require the lighting operator to be exceptionally on the ball, because what the audience is seeing and hearing isn't necessarily what the operator or cast are experiencing. That makes the accuracy of the cueing even more impressive.

I genuinely appreciated the extra care taken with the lighting cues to give each little world its own personality. It would have been very easy for the lighting to illuminate what is happening simply, but instead it becomes another part of the storytelling.

The sound design works in much the same way. It is beautifully integrated into the action and contributes enormously to the show's rhythm. Because there is no spoken dialogue, every sound becomes important, and the production understands exactly how much information can be communicated through music and audio alone.

The projections and live camera work are brilliantly executed. With more than 400 hand-drawn images used throughout the production, the sheer amount of coordination required is staggering. Some sections rely so heavily on the live camera that even the slightest mistake would be instantly visible. Yet the execution is so precise that you can simply sit back and enjoy the visual trickery rather than worrying about how it is being achieved. And trust me, you will want to know how they are achieving it.

The music by Jack McGuire holds the entire production together. With no spoken words, the underscore becomes essential to the storytelling, and there are some beautifully constructed musical layers throughout. What makes this even more impressive is that the tracks are pre-recorded, meaning there is absolutely no room for the performers to drift out of time. They cannot simply wait for the music to catch up with them. Everything has to happen exactly when it is supposed to happen, every single time. That level of precision is extraordinary.

The performers are just phenomenal. They bring the visual comedy to life with so much infectious excitement that you cannot help but be swept up in it. They genuinely look like they are having the time of their lives, and that enjoyment immediately transfers to the audience. Still beneath all of the silliness is an extraordinary level of technical skill. The performers have to be completely in sync with one another, with the music, with the camera, with the illustrations and with the lighting. They are not simply seven performers working alongside one another. At times, they feel like one enormous theatrical organism, moving as a single unit. That is particularly impressive in a production without words. Every gesture, glance, movement and reaction has to communicate something. There is no dialogue to explain the joke or explain what is happening. The physical language has to do all of the work, and this company handles it with remarkable confidence.

Overall, thia is playful, inventive, wonderfully silly and technically astonishing. The blend of physical comedy, movement, live camera work, hand-drawn animation and music creates something that appears like watching a live-action cartoon being built in front of you. This is theatre that doesn't need words to tell you exactly what it wants to say. It simply gets on with it, makes you laugh and leaves you with a rather large smile on your face. If you want to see just how far you can push physical comedy and visual depiction, take note. Noted is the best show of the feinge so far.

Noted is playing at Assembly Roxy Upstairs at 10:15 am, with performances running throughout the Edinburgh Fringe until 30 August, excluding 17 and 25 August. You can book your tickets via: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/noted