FRINGE 2018: Why you need to see… Coach Coach 2: Coach Harder

Who: Adam Riches What: Coach Coach 2: Coach Harder Where: Pleasance Dome - QueenDome When: 9.45pm Why:  I love Americana. I love high school sport. I think Friday Night Lights is one of the best five television shows ever made and I wish that Coach Eric Taylor were my dad. With that caveat, Coach Coach 2: Coach Harder is the most fun I’ve had at the Fringe in many years. And frankly I didn’t need the caveat. If you don't love this brilliant slice of the US at its best, then you’re either Donald Trump or dead. Picture the scene: a pseudo basketball court, an audience whipped into the sort of frenzy you’d expect ahead of a state championship game (Google it) and here’s Riches, decked out as a stars and stripes-loving ball coach. The crowd are his ‘students’ who are looking to beat down the Russians and claim glory. What follows is everything the Fringe was made for: there’s jeopardy, time travel, flags, belly laughs and masses of audience participation. As you can imagine with that cocktail, the script doesn’t quite go out of the window but there’s times when it’s dangling from the ledge by a frayed bungee rope. However, it’s all in the name of entertainment as Coach Coach coaches his uncoachables to victory (or defeat) depending on how accurate the crowd are from the free-throw line with a giant tennis ball. If his audience members……I mean squad members……are as good every night as they are on this Saturday, then Riches - and his paying customers - are in for a hell of a ride because this is great entertainment. Now where’s Tami Taylor at y’all?

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You can buy tickets for Coach Coach 2: Coach Harder here.