one4review | On 12, Aug 2026

Returning after a triumphant run in 2025, Creepy Boys are back again with their show which promises to be about nothing, nothing and nothing.

The titular Creepy Boys are S.E. Grummett and Sam Kruger, two eclectic and electric performers whose peculiar blend of clowning, puppetry, singing and spectacle combine to make a show that is almost impossible to describe without robbing it of some of the essence of what makes it so good. It’s bizarre. It’s surreal. It’s absurd. It’s silly. It’s gross (really gross at points – not for the faint of stomach). But it’s also got a core of real depth and emotion, pain and joy. It’s a kaleidoscope of things. But it’s also, thankfully, very funny.

The show is introduced as a deliberate attempt to make a show about nothing. Which is to say, a show not about anything that might upset you or cause you to think unduly. It’s not about politics and the current global lean to the right. It’s not about the increasing realities of climate change or the ethical implications of the increasing wealth inequalities or dealing with uncomfortable fallout of historical atrocities. It’s a show intended to be the equivalent of seeing a cute puppy video during a doom-scrolling session. A moment of purposeless joy, a dopamine buzz in a world that’s burning. It’s certainly not about the fears one might feel as a queer performer in a world where even existing feels ever more like a dangerous political stance. Definitely not.

The show starts with the performers slithering on stage in slug costumes made from sleeping bags, wetly slurping about the audience to vomit up small gifts, which sets a good expectation for the oddness to follow. The explanation for “why slugs?” is given that slugs are the epitome of “nothing”. The show continues with songs about the concept of “nothing” as well as chickpeas and Donald Duck. But it soon becomes clearer and clearer that trying to make art about nothing is almost impossible. The meaning just seeps in. And, as the set pieces and the performers start to unravel, the show becomes about all the feelings it was supposed to be hiding. It asks the question; what is the point of making shows about anything if doing so never seems to make a difference and should you just give up or sell out or run and hide? It’s an understandably angry show pointed at a world that fails to understand it. Also, there’s a puppet cut-out of Joni Mitchell, so that’s fun.

Unapologetically niche, unapologetically queer and only somewhat apologetically Canadian, Creepy Boys: SLUGS is the very best kind of “not for everyone” show. For a show about “nothing” it is deep, meaningful and relevant while remaining silly, strange and funny. It’s a show that left me thinking about its deeper themes while also giggling at memories of the performers waggling their genitals at the audience (it’s a late night clown show – full frontal nudity is apparently mandatory). I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, but to the people I would recommend it to, I couldn’t recommend it enough.

5 *****
Reviewed by Tom
TechCube 0 at Summerhall
Until 17th August
22.40 – 23.40