The Stage
Jeremy Austin
Occasionally the Fringe throws up a little gem - great writing, original ideas, promising futures - and Carbon Fever has all three.

It is the Armageddon day, the carbon content of the sky has fallen to Earth killing everyone except for groom-to-be Graham Thomas Forbes and his best man Will Fox, who find themselves trapped in an off licence.

The play concerns them coming to terms with their situation and how they deal with it. Which sounds really dry but it isn’t. Carbon Fever is a fast-paced, funny, well performed piece of theatre that should have television producers coming along and finding it hard to feign indifference.

It’s Men Behaving Badly meets Shaun of the Dead. There’s a sitcom here or at least an over-stretched British movie. Writers Chris Snelson and Lewis Ironside seem to have grasped the basic construct of writing comedy but have added a surreal twist that takes it off into, while not uncharted waters, certainly under explored.

John Fricker appears as Sigmund Freud as madness descends and then as a tax inspector, giving a good account of himself both times.

Whatever this company does next should be eagerly anticipated.

Three Weeks
DK
5 Stars
For the sake of balance I tried desperately to come up with something negative about this show – but failed miserably! It is simply a fantastic piece – brilliant new writing, cleverly staged, and superbly performed by the excellent cast. Trapped in an off-licence, old friends Will (Captain Chris Snelson) and Gray (Reverend Lewis Ironside) try to come to terms with Armageddon - and just as isolation starts to drive them mad, Sigmund (John Fricker) appears to push them over the edge. There is some fantastic physical comedy, particularly from Ironside and Fricker, and the script is full of one-liners and malapropisms, all sharp, witty, and expertly delivered. Sell your granny to buy a ticket for Carbon Fever – miss it at your peril!

Edinburgh Guide
Morag Hannah
5 Stars
Armageddon has arrived, it has so far rained seven feet of carbon outside, and Graham regains consciousness on the floor of an off-license. This is not quite the stag night he had planned.

The earnest young man is trapped with his best friend and comedy sidekick, Will, whose main tools of survival are beer, Pringles, and unfailing optimism. Will's witless, cheerful pragmatism and Graham's angst-fuelled panic are a classic combination that works extremely well here, in a scenario at once utterly ridiculous and strangely realistic (the only criticism there being: What off-license wouldn't have a staff toilet?).

The appearance of "Sigmund Freud", who is probably a figment of Graham's imagination, marks the big shift in mood of the play from a conventional (if witty) black comedy to something a little more surreal. Sigmund's energetic lecture and Graham's frenetic reaction to it are high points of the play, prompting at first bewilderment and then nervous hilarity from the audience. Beercan armchairs and tax collectors to follow.

Part Shaun of the Dead, part Douglas Adams (quite a big part, actually, complete with a copy of the book and babelfish homage at the end), Carbon Fever is a fab little play, well worth its modest ticket price and deserving of a much larger audience than it got.

The List
Greer Ogston
2 stars - (Edited...)
It’s every lad’s dream: the apocalypse arrives and they’re stuck in an ‘offy’. We see their progression through hours of boredom into insanity. Full of ... laughs and one liners ... charisma and chemistry... a company whose remit is ‘big issues with big laughs’ ...

The Scotsman
Andrea Mullaney
2 Stars - (Edited...)
IN THIS ... comedy, some young men are left locked in an off-licence during the end of the world (caused by all the carbon falling out of the sky and covering everyone in soot). They drink, turn the tills into toilets and go a bit mad. ... Shaun Of The Dead ... but with- ...booze.

Audience Reviews
Ken Eldridge
I thought this show was hilarious. Funny script, good use of set and beer can props, and the three leads (I say three, coz even though Freud is only on stage for a few minutes, if you said his dialogue at normal speed he'd have been on all the way through- how did he manage to remember all that information at that speed?!?) were fantastic. The bridegroom and his best man worked off each other incredibly well- I don't know what was funnier- the best man's "too laid back for the end of the world" attitude or the grooms rising annoyance at his friend (think Bert and Ernie with beer and odd bathroom habits).

Lorna Meehan
I'll never look at Chris Martin again without thinking of this show! Ingenius! I saw this show on a whim after swapping flyers with a guy from it and I loved it. It was clever, charming and bizzare in a familiar way. The "Panda Man" speech nearly made me wet myself! Apologies for shouting "Panda Man!" across the royal mile when i saw you guys after-couldnt contain my excitement! I have no doubt I'll see you on telly some day soon!

Sean Davis
This ranks 23rd of the 128 shows I have seen so far.

Michael Bowden
Bizarre, very funny, and alarming by turns we really enjoyed this one as our first night out on the fringe this year.

Rosie
A very funny show, well worth the walk to the venue. An intiuging idea. Where better to spend your last few days on earth than an 'offy?' And did I mention that it was very funny.

Tim Pitcher
This piece of fast paced, clever and genuinely hilarious comic theatre will keep you captivated for the duration of the performance. The talented young cast perform to their max and will have you crying with laughter. You do not want to miss this show!!!

One Most Impressed
This late night production made me laugh myself silly. An ingenious idea, with weird and wonderful random flourishes. Frequent moments of hilarity... Back