Corpus
C, Chambers Street, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Group: Modify the Van

Dolan Cummings

At times - high praise indeed - Corpus approaches the musical charm, the lyrical wit, the ironic sophistication of 'Once More With Feeling', the celebrated musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Before you can enjoy the show, though, you have to overcome two obstacles. The first is the suspicion that the producers of Corpus are at it. Every year there is at least one dire production at the Fringe that resorts to hype and cheap scandal in an effort to win an audience. This year, with its sensational subject matter, plastinated Barbie dolls and the infamous Gunther von Hagens in tow, Corpus has given the Comedy Terrorist a run for his money.

Don't worry. In the event, Corpus turns out to be quite worthy of attention in its own terms. It is funny, the performances are excellent (especially from Sarah Carter as Sally and Daniel Sherman as Arthur), and if anything the story is too packed with interesting ideas for its own good. While Corpus is inspired by von Hagens' Body Worlds exhibition, it is really about the quest for immortality, and the meaning of death. And the music is good, which is always a relief in a musical.

This brings us to the second obstacle. Corpus is a musical. Of course if you like musicals this isn't an obstacle at all, but it's a genre that repels more people than it attracts. For every successful crossover (that is, Jerry Springer: the Opera), there are a million unspeakable crimes against musical theatre performed only for the enjoyment of the cast. It is worth overcoming any prejudices against the form, though. Corpus succeeds as a musical, not despite being a musical.

The star of the show is not Dr Integer but Sally, a minor television reporter desperate for the immortality of fame. Sally's ambition is irresistible, and lends itself perfectly to musical expression. The moral of the story seems to be that mortality is an essential aspect of humanity. Without death, and in particular our knowledge of death, there would be no life as we know and love it. But Corpus also shows that the desire to cheat death is an equally essential part of being human.

Mad scientists may be sinister, but the idea that we should simply resign ourselves without protest to the inevitability of death is truly creepy.

30 July to 24 August.

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