The Funniest Action Hero MANBO turns the Gold Digger into an arena of warfare as comic performer Sam Dugmore explores all the tropes of the action movie genre.

He draws first blood with an array of mime weapons aimed squarely at his audience and he quickly draws them in. You can almost see the gunfire and explosions as Dugmore fully commits to his imaginary world.

This is a one man show with a cast of thousands including the action hero MANBO, his drill sergeant, the colonel and before you know it he is taking on the entire Russian army. Dugmore wears many hats (literally and figuratively) during the show often playing multiple characters at once with a rapid manic change of position and hat. The show thrives on its low-budget aesthetic with simple props, fast-paced costume changes and a clever soundtrack somehow delivering a show that feels like big budget Hollywood blockbuster.

Dugmore’s greatest strength is in embracing the unexpected as he reacts to his supporting cast drawn from the FRINGEWORLD audience. The sense of play and improvised responses to the often inept participants bring big laughs throughout the show. Every audience member sang, swayed and took enemy fire constantly making it impossible not to be engaged with the MANBO world.

This is a show to go to for the laughs alone as on the surface it is Van damn hilarious. If you want to look a little deeper though it is an exploration of what it means to be a man. MANBO comes to the conclusion that we are all born with the full range of human emotion and a need for love and connection. Masculinity is just the rigid body armour that an action hero and to some degree all men wear. It is only by removing the armour that we are able to be our true, complete selves and in the process find true happiness.