one4review | On 27, Aug 2026

Ollie West clambers over chairs, a fully committed caveman, The Dawn of Man plays ,this is epic – it’s dark but there are only four of us in the room, so it will take a gargantuan performance to make this fun.

He starts speaking in caveman grunts and, slowly, we begin to understand what he wants. One by one, each audience member learns to exchange information with him. Every successful discovery is added to his repertoire with a satisfying ding. At times with his incredibly adept tech the entire scene resets.

Throughout the show West is trying to learn, there are musical cues taking things up a notch- at one point he goes for a job and gets a tie put on him. It’s just so silly ( he ends up covered in ties and tries to eat one),just pure, perfectly silly fun and we’re all just cackling along.

He asks us in caveman-esque language to explain the fundamental concepts of human life: mum, dad, work, cars, books and religion. When we attempt to explain a book, a woman called Bella produces some magazines and an old journal from her bag. West discovers an idea for a play she once wanted to write, set in the spooky cedar village where she grew up.

This is bespoke clowning. It climaxes in a full audience play—Bella’s abandoned script idea from her journal, given consensually for him to read on stage—which leads to West marionetting the audience through a play until we reach the show’s delightful climax. West has prepared set pieces, and those set pieces are funny enough to rely on. But tonight, West seems willing to let everything go off the rails. An exhilarating skydive landing us on a bale of pure laughter.

West is completely comfortable taking risks, trying things and failing. The work-in-progress format perfectly matches the premise: his caveman is discovering humanity while West discovers what does and does not work. With only four people in the room, there is genuinely an astonishing amount of laughter.

There are rooms at the Fringe where magic happens and only a few people get to see it. Yes, there are massive acts such as Jack Whitehall or James Acaster who can sell out enormous venues. But the Fringe is also about discovering diamonds in little rooms. When you find someone before everyone else and feel proud of yourself because you have exquisite comedy taste.

Do you have exquisite comedy taste? Time to discover Ollie West.

****1/2
Reviewed by Stephen “Sharpie” Sharp
Hoots Nicholson Square
Until 30 August
21.10 (1 hour)