Review: Hold On To Your Butts (Arcola Theatre)

Review by Daz Gale

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With so many stage adaptations of classic movies opening recently and even more being announced for next year, the question on everybody’s lips is “When are we getting Jurassic Park on stage?”. The answer, my friends, is right now… kind of. While apparently it might be tricky to get actual dinosaurs on stage and even trickier to find ones who can act, nothing is impossible and, more often than not, life finds a way. This is where Hold On To Your Butts comes in – but just because they could create something, does it mean they necessarily should? Or would it all end in chaos and disaster?

Created by Recent Cutbacks, Hold On To Your Butts is a shot-for-shot parody of Jurassic Park, retelling and recreating all of the classic dinosaur movie in a speedy 70 minutes. Debuting in 2014, the show has enjoyed a decade of sold-out performances in New York and now crosses the pond in an attempt for world domination, making its London debut at the wonderfully intimate Arcola Theatre in Dalston (essentially the Isla Nublar of London) ahead of a UK tour in 2025.

On paper, Hold On To Your Butts sounds weird. In reality, it’s even weirder. Performed by just two actors taking on every role in the movie, joined only by a Foley artist providing sounds to accompany the story, it is incredibly chaotic but the best kind of organised chaos you can find. You can’t help but embrace the madness of it all as actors morph from Jeff Goldblum to a Tyrannosaurus Rex to Samuel L Jackson to a Diplodocus to a little girl as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact there is nothing ordinary about this performance – it’s all extraordinary.

Using only basic props – a hat turns them into a child, sunglasses to another character and a traffic cone… a dinosaur (obviously), the creativity here is delightful to see in a show that is unashamedly stupid but incredibly intelligent in executing this stupidity. Most importantly, Recent Cutbacks have a knack for finding the funny in every moment and Hold On To Your Butts will have you laughing throughout – thanks to the writing itself, Kristin McCarthy Parker’s clever direction and, of course, the trio of talented performers filling the stage.

There is no separating Jack Baldwin and Laurence Pears in this. Both performers are equally fantastic. Naturally funny and with no shortage of energy, which is necessary with the amount they have to run around and take on countless characters. There is such a charm to their performances, you can’t help but love what they are doing and appreciate their comic talents. Speaking of talents, Foley artist Charlie Ives creates a world of sound in an extra layer to this show which sets it apart from other parodies out there. The rapport Ives has with the two actors creates another dynamic as she attempts to keep up and seemingly improvises with them at certain moments, with the three struggling to keep a straight face at times in interactions so infectious, the audience shared the feelings.

The one piece of advice I would have for anyone seeing Hold On To Your Butts is to watch the original Jurassic Park movie shortly before you go. This will make you appreciate the shot-for-shot moments and how they recreate it in a wonderfully lo-fi style. While there are those certain iconic moments in the movie that tend to stay in your brain forever, to get the most out of this production, you want it as fresh in your mind as possible. Though this was one of my favourite movies as a kid, it has been a while since my last watch so I did myself a disservice by not remembering and comparing more moments during the show.

Bringing something different to theatre, Recent Cutbacks are a refreshing change and Hold On To Your Butts is the perfect example of their work. The best kind of silliness you can see in theatre, it gives you one of the most enjoyable experiences you are likely to see this side of Christmas without shouting “He’s behind you” (though if a Tyrannosaurus Rex IS behind you, you’d probably want a heads up). While the film questions whether Jurassic Park should be allowed to remain open, there is no such debate with Hold On To Your Butts – this is a show that should never go extinct.

Hold On To Your Butts plays at the Arcola Theatre until 11th January 2025.

It then tours the country from 7th February – 16th April. Dates and tickets at www.holdontoyourbutts.co.uk

Photos by Mark Senior