The Ice Hole – A Cardboard Comedy

This English version of an award-winning French comedy has been winning rave reviews, and the production has popped up a few times at various Dubai venues in the last few months – most (deservedly) selling out.

It’s fun, mad as trumpets, with echoes of Monty Python, Laurel and Hardy, and the Mighty Boosh. An imposing Shakespearian actor tells incredible stories of a man journeying through Europe under the curse of a mermaid he’d absent-mindedly caught in a fjord. The actor is accompanied by a put-upon flunky (maybe a stage manager?) who strives with the help of hastily-scribbled cardboard signs and boxes to help us understand the meaning of this journey …

Matthew T Corbett directs Sadiq Saboowala and Patrick Albrecht, two-time winners of the local Short+Sweet Dubai Theatre Festival, for Complices Théâtre. There’s a second performance on 26 Janaury.

Note that as well as the ticket price, you’ll need access to Alserkal Avenue’s Quoz Arts Fest to get at the Junction. So add an extra AED 63 to the cost of the outing. It’s still worth it.