Fringe review: ANTONIO!, Butch Mermaid - Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Antonio! is a queer punk pirate musical starring Shakespeare's ultimate love interest. With his band The Fools, Antonio expresses the joys, frustrations and rebellions of queer love in a world that might not have been quite ready for it. Reclaimed and reframed as a hopelessly romantic pirate who can't help falling for the wrong man.

This is a fun story, using Shakespeare's mystery muse for characters in Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice to fill in the gaps in a story of love and infatuation. But even putting that aside, the music in the performance is great. We just adored The Fools, no-one has ever made a tambourine look so cool!

The music has memorable, toe-tapping tunes and the lyrics are funny and move the story on, slipping between the text easily.

It's a first-class sound, with a great light hearted story, funny songs, excellent costumes and a brilliant, talented cast.

A treasure chest of musical comedy.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Rachel Louise Martin

Antonio! plays in the Stephenson Theatre at the Space @ Surgeons Hall at 5pm until 25 August.