Big beasts, small cast - Jurassic Park pastiche Hold On To Your Butts bestrides the UK
Published: Friday 10th January 2025
Back in 1993 cinema audiences were wowed - very much like Laura Dern & Co in the film actually - by what looked remarkably like genuine dinosaurs looming across the nation, in the groundbreaking blockbuster Jurassic Park. Visual effects would never be the same again.
Now Hold On To Your Butts is wowing audiences by recreating that first, best Jurassic film, but with more of a lo-fi approach to those effects - still mighty clever though. Audio is the secret weapon this time.
It packed out a big room at last year's Edinburgh Fringe and after the current run at London's Arcola Theatre, this New York-spawned show heads off on a UK tour from February. We asked director Kristin McCarthy Parker how Butts - that title refers to a famous line - was born.
Hi Kristin, could you tell us exactly what we're dealing with here?
Hold On To Your Butts is a 'shot-for-shot' parody of the greatest dinosaur film of all time, featuring just two actors and a live foley artist. The two actors tackle every character from the film (including the dinosaurs). Iconic scenes and special effects are brought to life on stage using very simple props that you might find around your flat (e.g. umbrella, bike helmet).
The whole thing takes place in just one hour, so it's like if you and your pals got together and tried to recreate the film from memory. It's very funny and lo-fi, but also very precise.
How did you come upon this particular style of performance: two actors and a foley artist?
We wanted to make something fun and physical that didn't necessarily play by the rules of traditional theatre. Our original team all went to college together, and we had a combination of mime, dance, clown, a cappella, and acting experience. We stuck with two actors because character doubling is really fun for an audience and keeps them on their toes.
The addition of the foley artist brought the world to life in a way that we couldn't do with just our bodies on stage. We didn't know if it would be successful, which is why the show was only supposed to be a one-night-only event. But it worked so well that we just kept doing it.
And why Jurassic Park? Is recreating huge dinosaurs like this just a funny idea?
Nick Abeel (co-creator and original performer) was a huge fan of the film. The idea actually emerged from a casual conversation he was having with a mutual friend and me one night. Everyone was riffing on scenes from the film, impersonating all the characters, and we thought, 'this would make a great show'.
What's your favourite bit of your version?
I'm a big fan of our 'split screen' sequence. Both actors are in separate areas of the stage, and one actor plays all the characters in one scene while voicing a different character in the other scene. It's all achieved with really simple lights that direct the audience's focus, but it's really effective and snappy.
Any memorable mishaps, during the Edinburgh run or before?
A while back in NYC, an audience member stepped out to use the bathroom by crossing the stage, right in front of the actors. It was in the middle of a Muldoon scene, who - if you don't know - is a pretty intense character that we get a lot of laughs out of. As she passed by them, the actor playing Muldoon said softly, "There she goes." I can't explain why, but it killed with our audience.
Is there another film you'd love to take on next?
Plans are in the works to do a full-length version of There Is No Spoon (a parody of The Matrix), which you'll see a trailer for if you come to the show. We kick a lot of ideas around, and people always have suggestions for us (recent highlights include A League Of Their Own and A Quiet Place).
The best films are the ones that are stylistically unique and that take themselves pretty seriously - those are the best to find humour in. Our approach is to use an iconic or nostalgic piece of pop culture to explore a variety of theatrical mediums. The film allows us to do things that might seem a little eccentric on paper (mime, foley, puppetry, live projections, etc) by making them really fun and accessible.
Hold On To Your Butts is at the Arcola Theatre in London until 11th Jan before heading out on tour. www.holdontoyourbutts.com
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