WHAM BLAM!

"The name of the show was supposed to be Crack Snap Clap Cut Crash Kick Kill," says BLAM!'s director/performer/creator, Kristján Ingimarsson—which perhaps tells you more about the show that anything Fest might add—"but the Republique theatre in Copenhagen told me they'd never sell a single ticket if we called it that."

Yep, BLAM! doesn't exactly dial-up on the subtle stakes. But the show's beauty lies in its unapologetic simplicity: take one office—sterile, familiar, soul-sapping—and amp up all those little human procrastinations and spates of idle mind-wandering to cinema-size. In very loud, very live HD.

"I was at this point in my life where I needed to do a show where I could just have fun," continues Ingimarsson, an acclaimed visual theatre artist originally from Iceland but based in Denmark since 1992. "I like experimental, physical theatre, but I wanted to make a comedy that everyone could understand. I discovered this bunch of great guys with different physical skills and made the show. I wanted to present a form that everyone would recognise. Movie language is international, it's so well understood, and so is the language of the office – a workplace everyone knows. But what happens when we mix these two very recognisable worlds together?"

The answer is a high-tech, high-risk, crowd-pleaser of a show, full of astounding physical prowess, manifold modern cultural references, clowning and slapstick comedy. Even the set gets in on the act, undergoing its own perspective-shifting metamorphosis as the action unfolds. You sense Ingimarsson, who plays HERO, and his three cast members (playing GEEK, BOSS and HULK) are having just as much fun as the audience.

"It's true!" he says. "We started in Denmark and have been to Iceland and Norway – everyone seems to love it. People think it's new, but still recognise it. Like the characters, people want to break out and become the boy or the man they always wanted to be. The audience get the game very quickly: doing stuff in the office when your boss's back is turned. We just take it a step—OK, some steps—further!

"This is the first time we've seen fathers take their sons to the theatre. And come back. We've changed our audiences and are attracting people not usually interested in theatre."

And the women?

"It's absolutely for them too! They need it! They work in the same places, sat at desks, in boxes and no-one asks, 'Is this normal? What am I doing here?' Everyone needs to break out!"

BLAM! melds the seemingly opposite realms of European Physical Theatre and Hollywood Action Blockbuster, and has gained some serious pedigree since opening in Copenhagen 18 months ago. Having sold out its Scandinavian run, it's off to London after Edinburgh, then Italy, then back home again. And while seven actors play the four characters on rotation during the Fringe run, the physical challenge ahead looks immensely daunting.

"We work hard and we are trained to do this," Ingimarsson says. "Is it dangerous? Well, there's no improvisation in the actual piece when we're performing and everything is choreographed to the last detail. In fact, it's rare you get hurt during a performance, it's usually when you're warming up or when you step on the soap afterwards. But yes, it is a little bit dangerous. I guess we're just crazy enough not to think about it!"