Router Sidewalker is our Guru/Shaman and this pedestrian pilgrimage leads us into the unknown and possibly unknowable, via Cuba Mall and surrounds. This is my first Fringe show and an excellent entry into the spirit of the Fringe.

As requested, I’ve come with an open mind and appropriate foot wear. After being gathered in the Cuba Mall and cleansed via a blue butterfly net, Sidewalker (George Fenn) leads us up the Left Bank and across streets through a quest to engage with the heliogenetic aspects of the landscape and location.

We are asked to contemplate which food is best for which days; the home of Jeffrey; the surprise meeting with an old ex who can’t handle more than one person at a time leading to rather interesting and somewhat weird group movement; how best to re-energise a computer laptop – and not at all what you are currently thinking, as actual things in this universe may be different on our quest. Sidewalker guides us, questions us, leads us in rituals and moments to make us see the world differently. 

This is an improvised performance that is so good that there are moments when you wonder what has been set up before. Cardboard boxes seem to have been left out specifically for this show; people having a cigarette outside work respond aptly so you wonder if these are actually actors with agendas. One of our group may be a plant, his interactions with Sidewalker are on the cusp of impertinence yet are well handled and channelled into our journey. Yes, it is extremely silly.

Yes, it may have no great art attached to it, but it is strangely endearing and there is a bonhomie created in our little group as we play outside while the grown-ups walk past in their busy lives.

Want an hour of a bit of fun – this is a great beginning and very, very Fringe.

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