Ali Brice Presents Home Is Where Eric Meat Is at the Hive

Ali Brice Presents Home Is Where Eric Meat Is brings an outrageously outlandish show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, with its main character Eric Meat inviting us into his bizarre world. Although perhaps not necessarily for everyone, for those who can accept and enjoy this brand of slapstick humour, Eric Meat is a side-splittingly comical entity.

On his moving-out day, he attempts erase his memories at the house, involving the audience in a display of his peculiar domestic habits. From dressing up as a wasp – complete with feelers made of windscreen wipers – to impersonating a Werther’s Original, Ali Brice shows off Eric Meat’s eccentricity and warmth, and brings the performance to life with tears: both of laughter and as a result of onions being held up to the eyes.

There’s a great deal of interaction in the show; viewers truly become part of Eric’s family, singing songs full of random lyrics at odd intervals, and having their shoes borrowed by Eric’s wacky and bittersweet memory of Francine, the masculine shoe-shop owner. Despite the silliness of the performance, Home Is Where Eric Meat Is floats atop themes such as loneliness and reminiscence.

Ali Brice is a naturally talented comedian and the barmy embodiment of a dumb joke, so stupid that it becomes hilarious. His shabby homemade props, sound and lighting only add to the warmhearted chaos of the show, leaving the public wondering if what they just witnessed really did just happen. Eric Meat, a cross between the funny little man living on his own down the road and the Mad Hatter, is a delight, and worth every one of the 50 minutes.

Maia Hall

Ali Brice Presents Home Is Where Eric Meat Is is on at the Hive from 4^th August until 28^th August 2016, for further information or to book visit here.