With a title like that, perhaps it’s no surprise that this afternoon’s show is sold out. Who wouldn’t want to find out how a stray limb ended up in a village fete’s raffle? Writer, performer and director Daniel McVey greets us as his drag character Lydia, a woman who rules over local festivities with a strict schedule – and a firm grip on the tombola.
Audience members are encouraged to get up and have a go, and not just that: they’re also cast in McVey’s play as glove puppeteers, actors and – gasp! – suspects in a terrible murder. You see, the titular foot found in the titular tombola has caused shockwaves through the village. Who committed this murder – if it even is a murder?
A list of Cluedo-esque suspects is pinned to the tombola stand: Dr Sage, Miss Lemon etc. This cosy crime becomes somewhat less cosy when a strand of cosmic horror enters the fray. Is the strange, multi-eyed presence spotted hovering in the sky responsible for the severed foot?
Or is it all just a mass hallucination? During this charming, interactive play we get to partake in singalongs (“We all knit and crochet”), flag waving and even a little faux-democracy. There’s some gentle poking at Little England and our monied, law-making elites that could be developed a little more fully.
But then, as Lydia reminds us, there is a crime to solve. Superb prizes are on offer for those that have a go at the tombola – a Susan Boyle CD is swiped early, a bag of hair clips later on, all taken home by the lucky winners. Miss Lemon – Lydia’s arch nemesis with whom she has an entertaining feud – receives a prize designed to play havoc with her lactose intolerance.
The fete schedule on Lydia’s clipboard is actually a script and, while McVey inhabits his drag persona with aplomb, the magic is slightly undone by the fact so much dialogue is clearly being read from it. Still, there are twists and turns as we journey onwards, and the play’s finale suggests McVey has far more bizarre things in his brain than a mere disembodied foot. At Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, until 31 August
Extract — continue reading at the source.
