Creepy Boys: SLUGS *****

Where can I begin? It's not every day that part of the show involves the experience of having Sam Kruger's penis literally centimetres from your face, but that's what you get when it's a show about nothing nothing nothing. Creepy Boys SLUGS, returning after a great run last year, is a hypnotic, queer, adrenalin-inducing, techno-pulsing, outrageously brainrotted and really smart piece of theatre. 

It deserves all superlatives, and you wouldn't think you'd be saying that when it opens with Kruger and his creative partner S.E. Grummet emerging wearing these huge sleeping bags with very vulva shaped openings. They emerge as slugs and proudly declare they're here to make a show about nothing. They launch into a dance number of which there are many and these are always completely entrancing and hilarious, especially when Grummet brings out the auto-tune. They have such brilliant timing, and so does Kruger — their work is through the roof here, insanely physical, insanely demanding - and they put in perhaps the most taxing shifts I've seen at a show this Fringe. 

As they make a show about nothing, they sometimes relax us with these puppet shows that are really, really stupid. There's this guy looking out at the stars as all his worldly possessions get abducted by aliens. There's a PowerPoint about how most things are nothing but some things are something — that's basically what's the play is about. Of course, nothing is nothing, and sometimes the connotations of certain things are 'something' – gender, for example, explored via the two performers aforementioned genitalia and their sticking googly eyes onto said genitalia.

But none of this is gratuitous. Creepy Boys are lampooning and diagnosing the politics of a generation which has been forced into a hyper-awareness of the world and its connotations. We're "woke" and I say this in its original sense. Woke to the dynamics of power that have literally shaped how we interact with reality. Slugs shows us how the instinct to just slack it all off and 'do nothing' is one that leads into more implications. It's one of the best theses I've ever seen on the idea that everything is political, and the fact that message is brought through by the most ridiculous clown ever is a testament to Kruger and Grummet's insane intelligence. 

The intelligence is multi-faceted - a political intelligence but also a theatrical intelligence. The show is always break-neck and unexpected but also always easy to follow. Too often is this breakneck style somewhat at the expense of the audience, not here. Kruger and Grummet are really generous performers who give their all and can make even the grumpiest sceptic go with the crazy flow of their work. 

The myth of the world being a horse is recurringly brought through the piece with a really moving sense, and leads to a touching ending — not before some nudity, puppetry and being held at gunpoint though. CREEPY BOYS: Slugs is just a phenomenal piece of work. It's an unmissable gem of this Fringe — engrossing, adrenalin-pumping and look, the very fact I'm attempting to make critical sense of this is missing the point. First and foremost, it's a total riot. You have to see it for yourself.

Creepy Boys: SLUGS has sold out its initial run but there are two extra dates at Summerhall on 28th and 29th August.