The Seer[author-post-rating] (3/5 Stars)

One way to define the unhinged experience that is The Seer may be to describe the bizarre series of events that befall its ostracised narrator: he’s stabbed in the arse, he delivers a bouncing baby boy, and he divulges integral plot information back in time. Furthermore, he passionately kisses the moustache off of a fellow cast member and enthusiastically leads the audience into applause during the piece’s sudden dénouement. And he’s just a narrative device.

Join Penn Dixie Productions on a demented journey through the life and times of Arthur Rimbaud, tortured teenage poet extraordinaire. Dive down to Rimbaud wonderland through the giant puppet anus that sits ominously on-stage, disgorging guns, surreal symbolism and any other strange paraphernalia the cast decide to conjure. To the crew’s credit, its Fringe entry does warn audiences of a “very large puppet asshole”. It’s not the first company to advertise through its warning section and it assures attracting the right clientèle, along with a healthy number of the suicidally curious.

The play is a rip-roaring exploration of a warped artistic mind, brought to life with such fierce gusto that it verges on the psychotic. The entire production is tied into the poet’s wildly fluctuating brainwave patterns. The piece sends us to the peaks of anarchy induced mirth, down to the troughs of silently bewildered astonishment. At one point the audience watch agog as three pantomime French soldiers mime raping our young protagonist with a terrifying box carton construction. The incident is not nearly as disturbing as the fact you find yourself bursting out with a guttural laugh at the next manic gag mere seconds later. Perhaps it’s not just the cast that are losing their marbles.

Strap yourself down firmly to your seat and experience The Seer, a wild, irrational, intoxicating vision that you may never truly forget.

The Seer is playing at Underbelly Cowgate as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival until 25 August. For more information and tickets, please see to the Edinburgh Fringe Website.