It's oh SO mind-blowing - prepare for day two of festival in Skegness

Expect the unexpected and you won't go far wrong - and the finale of SO Festival's first day in Skegness certainly delivered.
The cops and robbers chase in Wanted by eVenti Verticali even  took the acrobatic Piallini brothers under the sea. ANL-180209-093332001The cops and robbers chase in Wanted by eVenti Verticali even  took the acrobatic Piallini brothers under the sea. ANL-180209-093332001
The cops and robbers chase in Wanted by eVenti Verticali even took the acrobatic Piallini brothers under the sea. ANL-180209-093332001

Hundreds of people made their way to the north end of the promenade last night for the UK premier performance of the cops and robbers stunt show Wanted by eVenti Verticali - a challenge for the Italian artistic directors in itself.

As darkness fell after a blistering return of summer during the day, the audience gathered around an outdoor cinema screen at the back of the Sea View car park.

As they looked upwards waiting for the show to start the ‘robbers’ - Luca and Andrea Piallini - took the crowd by surprise by creeping up behind them.

Crowds watching Wanted by eVenti Verticali. ANL-180209-093321001Crowds watching Wanted by eVenti Verticali. ANL-180209-093321001
Crowds watching Wanted by eVenti Verticali. ANL-180209-093321001

However, film that was shown to set the scene while they got into place high above the screen had a couple of our Facebook Live viewers asking ‘what on earth?’ - or words to that effect - with a few members of the audience leaving even before the acrobatics started.

But those who did brave the sea breezes were treated to a performance inspired by comics and video games, where two artists were tossed around between spy-story scenes and acrobatic combats. The cops and robbers chase took them on a Mission Impossible adventure around the earth, into a fantasy world of Pac Man labyrinths and Super Mario, under the sea and out of this world.

Local SO Festival fans Liz and Robert Stone were in the audience with their friend Judy Reed. As we waited for the start they chatted about previous years - listing last year’s drummers as one of their highlights.

The show did lose a good few people half-way through but Robert said afterwards: “It was entertaining. It reminded me of a Pet Shop Boys’ video - you’re never quite sure what you are watching but you enjoy it.”

Murphy Effect by 1 Watt left shoppers in Lumley Road wondering  what was going on ANL-180209-093255001Murphy Effect by 1 Watt left shoppers in Lumley Road wondering  what was going on ANL-180209-093255001
Murphy Effect by 1 Watt left shoppers in Lumley Road wondering what was going on ANL-180209-093255001

Earlier in the day, the Murphy Effect by 1 Watt left shoppers in Lumley Road wondering what was going on, with performers climbing on phone boxes, chasing cars including the Coastguard and pretending to be a mannequin.

Robert said he just happened to be in Lumley Road when the performance started.

He said: “This man climbed under the railing and started doing gorilla actions in the road. I thought at first he’d fallen out of one of the pubs. I didn’t realise he was part of the entertainment.”

You can decide for yourself today near Hildreds Shopping Centre in Lumley Road at 2pm when the Murphy Effect is performed again.

There So Festival began in Mablethorpe of Friday. There are also more SO Festival performances in Tower Gardens today from 12pm. For more details of what is on visit sofestival.org* See our Live video of Wanted on the Skegness Standard Facebook page and stories and pictires from the weekend in this week’s Wednesday paper. Are you enjoying the SO Festival? Email [email protected] with your reaction.

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