The *Cosmic Family* Reviews
Is Cosmic Family like Marmite? Some people seem to love it - others to hate it. The Sunday Times thought it was 'hilarious' and The Scotsman hailed it 'shameless' and 'gratuitous'. Metro described it was 'as funny as it is terrifying'.
iFind below the reviews by the Press, Academics, Artists,
Followers whom we had the pleasure to welcome at our workshop! And we
invite you to leave your own opinion by leaving a message through our
online form.
Reviews by the Press
METRO 16-08-06 RATING 5/5 *****
 |
"The *Cosmic Family* Workshop-Seminar
is a screaming, hellish plunge into the bowels of a nightmare,
a monstrous devil-child abomination that should have been mercilessly
smothered at birth. It's a sick, loathsome monster, so messed up
that at its conclusion the audience is actually afraid to leave
the room, scared that The *Cosmic Family* might be waiting for
them outside. If you bring your children along to see it, they
will probably end up hating you. In short: it's brilliant. |
By way of example, it's probably not giving too
much away to say that it climaxes with a urine-stained cultist ecstatically
lapping up the thick,
yellow brain fluids of her murdered god.
It's only amusing because it's so
absurd – The Family's actions are inexcusably warped, but the unfathomable,
illogical weirdness of their insane beliefs is almost as funny as it
is terrifying.
Clearly The *Cosmic Family* Workshop-Seminar is not for all; but should The Solvents
Theatre Company choose to develop the idea then it's entirely possible we're
witnessing the birth of the next League Of Gentlemen." - Andrzej Lukowski,
Metro News Paper, RATING: 5 stars ***** (Read review on Metro's website here)
SUNDAY TIMES 10-04-06
(...) hilarious expressionist cabaret, The Cosmic Family Workshop-Seminar,
sent up the hucksterism of evangelical religion and personal makeover
shows, and won the company an award for its versatility.” - Robert
Hewison, The
Sunday Times (NSDF 2006 Judge)
THREE WEEKS 06-08-06 RATING 2/5 **
"Ever wondered how to make that perfect
smoothie? Well, it doesn’t involve fresh fruit, milk, a liquidiser,
or any of that Jamie Oliver nonsense. If you can pluck up the courage
to find a bag lady, force a power drill through her head and suck out
her brains; then you’re in business. It’s a messy job, as
you will soon discover in this interesting play. Surprised? There’s
plenty more where that came from. An extreme ‘expressionist cabaret’ that
loosely orbits lifestyle programming, new-age evangelism and ‘the
goose that laid the golden egg?’ morality in this disturbing take
on modern life. ‘The Cosmic Family’ is weird, truly terrifying,
and certainly not to everyone’s taste."
- Three Weeks Daily - On The Inside, 06/08/06, Guy Stewart, rating 2/5
REVIEW by www.gigreviewscoland.net 25/08/06 RATING 3/5 ***
''Presented and treated as a ‘real’ workshop for people
interested in spiritual development, this gang effectively capture
all the nuances
of American evangelism, strange cults and even those hideous participatory
workshops we all have to attend in our jobs. The smooth Freddy
Grifter greets us at the door – shaking hands and asking each
of us our names. His right hand, Erica Humple, does likewise
and welcomes us with a warmth of spirit and plastic smile. And
so the seminar begins. We have to participate in various meditative
chantings (“Pure energy flowing through you and me”, “Let
go of my problems and open my heart”), such that I feel cleansed
and uplifted myself. However, the duo are not so pure of heart
as they make out. They are both worshipers of “She” – the
universal smoothie. And yes, she is a smoothie – a particularly
nice banana one at that, which you get to taste free at the end (don’t
be tricked into paying the £95).
You think that’s surreal? It gets worse (better?). I
think the cast must have written it on acid. We have the fairly
conventional take on evangelistic crusades and brainwashing techniques – even
the hideously, awkward, silent pauses at workshops (thank you chap outside
for that observation). But we also have audience participation,
blow jobs, peeing smoothie on the floor, drinking smoothie from the head
of “She”’(don’t wear any good clothes to this
show), a dead smoothie, a cleaner and a disabled chap I think they tried
to “cure”. There are overtones of abuse (mental,
physical, sexual), drug taking, cults and some Dario Fo type escapades.
Both Klaus Kruse and Celine Smith were excellent – they were at
first robotically perfect and slowly degenerated to mentally unstable
- then finally to naturally psychotic. I guess it will be no surprise
to you that once again I got a bit lost. However, I still enjoyed
it as it was a truly Fringe experience and should be tasted for that
very reason! Avoid them in real life – but see the show!
Caz - www.gigreviewscoland.net
Reviews by Academics
'This is a show that takes the
audience by cosmic force! The Solvents create an evening of evangelical
indoctrination where the audience are invited to enjoy the weird and the wonderful."-
Joe Richards, Lecturer in Devised Theatre, Dartington College of Arts, Totnes,
UK.
"Somewhere between new age evangelism and corporate
sell, the Cosmic Family's 'presentation' is full of energy - and not
only of the 'positive' kind - it also serves as a dark warning to those
of us who might have been harbouring any milk of human kindness. Contemporary
performance taking a 'smooth' swipe at hype." Barbara Bridger,
Senior Lecturer in Scripted Media, DCA
Wonderfully entertaining show that
seduces you into wanting to belong to
the ‘positive’ cult, whilst it exposes its horrors and abuses’ -
Kevin Tomlinson, Kepow Theatre
REVIEWS FROM VISITORS AT EDFRINGE.COM
RATING 5/5 ***** Cosmic Family 22 Aug 2006
reviewer: Liz Carter, England
I thought Cosmic Family was superb! Well done! This is a show that takes
you by suprise, makes you laugh at the most inappropriate things and makes
you feel uncomfortable in the most enjoyable way. I found myself in love
with the Cosmic Family, which also left me feeling quite disturbed! If you
are open minded and want to gain a new experience then see this show!!!!
RATING 2/5 ** Make mine a smoothie 21 Aug 2006
reviewer: Pam, United Kingdom
I'll give it 2 out of 5, but I'm wavering between 0 and 5. I was glad to
have seen this show, even though it was utterly utterly bonkers and left
most of the audience looking terrified. I'm not going to try and describe
this because you wouldn't believe me. Funny? Yes, sometimes. Alarming? Oh
yes. Original? Definitely. This is what I imagined the Fringe would be
like - wierd experimental stuff that I didn't understand. If you see it,
you will need a cup of tea and a biscuit to calm down afterwards (no milk
though).
RATING 4/5 **** Weird but worth it 15 Aug 2006
reviewer: Nick S, United Kingdom
For me The Cosmic Family Workshop shows us what’s truly wonderful about
the fringe. I met them on the Royal Mile distributing flyers for their
show, they were singing the ‘Positive Energy’ mantra and being
sprayed by
their automated rainmaking umbrellas. With a pitch like that I couldn’t
resist. The show it’s self did not disappoint. Challenging, comedic,
strange, funny and all presented with boundless energy. The troupe have a
real self belief and their performance left me feeling I’d seen a piece
of
theatre presented with real passion, a rare thing. Go see.
RATING 5/5 *****
Positive energy and uplifting smoothies 05 Aug 2006
reviewer: irene pomatto, United Kingdom
The Cosmic Family welcomes you on the streets of Edinburgh taking
you
under their umbrellas to share their shelter from the rain. The Cosmic
family invites you to meet the She holy supernatural personification of
love and positive energy, sip on the complementary shot of universal
smoothie and buy a shot for your beloved to feel the universal positive
energy flow through you and me. Passing by your wallet. A wonderful act on
the commodification of faith and corporate spiritual workshops with quick
solutions for lost souls. A mixture of surrealism, lynchian imagery, TV
and advertising language and telesales trichery. Go on, down your
smoothie!
RATING 0/5 Why Did They Bother...??? 05 Aug 2006
reviewer: edin jules, Edinburgh, Scotland
I am sorry if this sounds harsh, but why do some people feel that just because
they can raise enough money to put on a show at the Edinburgh Fringe that
they think they can get people to pay to watch them. I got my ticket for
free -
thank the lord! - and even then I felt I was robbed. Normally, if a show
is pretty poor and dragging, I'll persevere to the end... just in case it
picks
up. For this show however, I could stand only 15 minutes of the poor acting,
singing and dialogue before making a quick dash for the exit.
click to witness
and hear 'our inner problems'
NOW Back to the Cosmic Family Homepage / Read Synopsis /
Watch
Trailer / Photos / listen
to
the Radio Play / or buy the Universal
Smoothie (TM) :-) ?
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