one4review | On 27, Aug 2026

Dr Silcox is a broken man. Through bad luck and pure stupidity, he’s lost his entrepreneurial dream, and now he’s trying to reinvent himself as a self-help guru so others don’t repeat the same mistakes.

This is a riot from start to finish. Using a gloriously lo-fi PowerPoint created on Windows 95, some truly terrible AI-generated video and his scientific brain, Silcox takes us through his spectacular failings, how to change your mindset when you’ve lost everything, and his five great categories of failure. A highlight is getting the audience to share their own financial traumas wound up in his ego, cutting arrogance, and enough barbs to have the crowd doubling over.

The whole thing succeeds because of Silcox’s utterly deadpan persona. He delivers every ridiculous statement with the seriousness of a man who thinks he’s found the elixir of life, in gloriously Partridge-esque beauty.

Silcox is one of the UK’s best character actors, and that ability to create a completely believable, utterly ridiculous character is what makes this work so well.

Pure genius and low-budget chaos; there are very few on the scene who can match what he’s selling.

Another wonderful PBH Free Fringe find.

*****
Reviewed by Steve H
PBH’s Free Fringe – Voodoo Rooms
Until 30 August
14.00