one4review | On 18, Aug 2025

Following on from the smash hits of Gwyneth Goes Skiing and Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story, AwkwardProds returns with another mixup of camp craziness, this time parodying the seasonal silliness of Christmas (or insert-public-holiday-here) movies so exemplified by Netflix nonsense such as Christmas Prince, Princess Switch and their Hallmark equivalents.

The plot of the show is familiar to anyone familiar with the Hallmark mould – a young attractive prince of a small, fictional European country (in this case, Swedonia) is compelled to marry in order to inherit the throne. Enter a similarly young and attractive baker from New Yawk, who’s trying to find himself again after a recent breakup. Meet cutes, misunderstandings, swooning and snogging ensue. If you are a fan of this popular – yet also pretty niche – genre (as I am) then you’ll be laughing all the way along at both the clichés and their subversions.

The story is presented with AwkwardProds particular mix of comedy, music, puppets and cameo roles from other comedians – presented on stage by large multimedia screens reading lines in the guises of various characters, including world figures such as the Queen and Michelle Obama. But one of the most pleasing and enjoyable parts of the show is that a number of bit parts are played by audience members, who are given their roles at the beginning of the show and then called to the stage to read their lines and stage directions off the screens, adding a really gentle and hilarious version of audience participation that was a joy to see.

If there was a word to summarise this production it would be “indulgent” – there’s a sense that AwkwardProd, with their prior successes, has nothing more to prove and has gone ahead with whatever they felt like. This is evident in all levels, from the amount and quality of the props, to the high quality of the multimedia equipment, to the individually composed little jingles between scenes, to the amount of cameos, to the length of the title of the show (the listings in the Fringe and Pleasance programmes have no room for an actual summary of the show) and the runtime. In fact, the show comfortably ran almost ten minutes over with no delays and despite the slightly bloated (by Fringe standards) hour and ten minutes listed runtime. All this indulgence isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s actually great to see a production with so much confidence, and it’s definitely the most expensive looking show I’ve seen at the Fringe this year, but there is, perhaps, a little lack of polish. Some jokes don’t land and the pre-recorded cameos can feel a bit clunky at times, something that wouldn’t at all be noticeable if it wasn’t that the quality of so much else in the production is so high.

Overall, if you liked AwkwardProds’ other productions, you’re sure to like this and if you’re a fan of cheese-y festive-period movies then you’ll most likely love it.

****
Reviewed by Tom M
Beyond at Pleasance Courtyard 25
16:40 (1hr10)
Until the 25th (not 19th)