FWAMP Takes Fringe! A Review of Leeds Alumni’s New Theme Park Theatre
Whilst many of the Leeds students have headed home for the summer to rest and recover from endless socials and hours locked in the library, a small but fiercely dedicated group of music and performance student societies hang around campus in those hazy summer months to prepare for the theatrical crusade to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to take new and original work up to the Royal Mile.
Fantasy World Adventures Mega Park (or FWAMP, if you’re so inclined) is a slight outlier when it comes to this group of people, instead being comprised of a mixture of current university students, alumni from LUU societies such as Stage Musicals Society and Musical Theatre Society and friends of the creatives who incepted the idea. Originally showing approximately a year ago with a 120 minute run time and large-scale set, the show has gone through a multitude of changes, re-writes and re-casting to present an updated version of the show that is Fringe ready.
Before it has even hit the festival, this dedication to crafting FWAMP into a new and improved version of itself has already paid off; the team are the recipients of the highly coveted Keep It Fringe fund and have received five star reviews from a range of other publications. So what exactly is it that makes this theme park theatrical spectacular feel so relevant and exciting across the board?
Fantasy World Adventures Mega Park is very reminiscent of Kinky Boots in nature and in sound. A disgruntled young man inherits a company he rather doesn’t have a passion for (in this case, a theme park) and the show navigates the weird and wonderful happenings within that company as well as the revolutionary ideas that turn it around. Teddy Mega, played by Owen Wardle, is this disgruntled young man and after being appointed the CEO of the titular theme park, he realises he has much a deeper dream: to work as the theme park’s bunny rabbit mascot. It’s a fanatical premise that works brilliantly for a show off to a festival full of equally zany plots.
This is all supported by a vibrant ensemble cast which highlights the mad ongoings within this manic theme park. Fantasy World Adventures Mega Park is very much at it’s best when following these small divergences from the main plot, whether it be in a girl group number with the rollercoaster designers, checking with the scene-stealing Barb (Gee Case Watson) at her hook-a-duck stand or watching the construction numbers perform a Magic Mike-like number about how they are sexualised by the mothers the park. Best of all is a trip to the fairytale castle, where we find out the princesses and princes have all been fooling around and giving each other ‘the clap’. Here, FWAMP feels authentically British in its comedy and approach to musical comedy; as I mentioned, it strikes up tones of Kinky Boots and even slightly Monty Python at times.
Most of these side-quests are capped off with the appearance of work experience kid, Jason, who acts as our de-facto tour guide through the bizarre world of FWAMP. David Bygraves is another performer who captures the audience’s attention every time he appears on stage amongst the myriad of theme park workers, effortlessly keeping the comedic undertone of the piece running smoothly.
Musical performances in FWAMP are also key to its success of feeling like a future West End hit. Maeve Gallagher and Charlotte Farthing deserve a special shoutout as the two female leads, who deliver particularly stunning vocal performances across the show’s runtime. The ensemble as a whole are also incredibly strong and the show manages to build a balance between fabulous vocals and energetic dance routines. It must be said that the talent here on stage is a credit to FWAMP’s overall feel-good energy and quickly enraptures the audience into a nonsensical yet realistic world.
Fantasy World Adventures Mega Park is at its best when chasing this nonsense, and whilst the romance sub-plot does dwindle along slightly much for my personal liking, it is very hard to be miserable whilst watching this show. It has already received incredible reviews and accolades across the Fringe sphere, and I wholeheartedly believe in this support.
There is a fantastical future out there for the cast and crew for FWAMP and if you want to be one of the first aboard the roller-coaster journey I am sure they are bound to have, I recommend catching them at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer.
Words by Jess Cooper