Fungasm: Save or Smash (12+)

Fungasm: Save or Smash

Gilded Saloon

It’s hard to put this experience into words that will do it justice!! My advice would simply be to grab a bunch of friends, co-workers or family, get yourselves down there and experience it for yourselves; the result will be TONS of fun!

This is a participatory gameshow with some very unique features, and I absolutely loved watching the journey of our (older) mini-reviewer throughout. They arrived with complete confusion about what was going on and ended begging me to save a rather cute owl plate from imminent destruction so that we could bring it home! Participation is, of course, optional, but getting yourself a lanyard and cheering on your fellow teammates definitely adds to the chaos and enjoyment. It took us one round before the penny finally dropped and the three of us realised quite what the ‘Save or Smash tagline meant in relation to the questions being asked; I’m sure some cleverer audience members got there much quicker!

There was something strangely thrilling about watching a variety of charity shop china being held up for judgement before being enthusiastically smashed to pieces, egged on by an increasingly excited audience. It’s wonderfully absurd and somehow incredibly compelling. Highlights included a rather obscure game of ‘Is It Mayo?’, and of course Sharkira, providing the musical interludes we didn’t know we needed…

There’s a brilliant sense of collective silliness too with strangers becoming teammates, everyone gets invested in the outcome, and suddenly you find yourself becoming emotionally attached to charity shop crockery. Colourfully chaotic, gloriously absurd and completely infectious; this show is fully deserving of their cult following, and we are very much indoctrinated !

My (older) mini-reviewer said : ‘At first I didn’t know what on earth was going on..but I loved it…the smashing was cool, and I’m glad we got a prize. It’s unlike anything else we’ve seen… ‘