Some shows take a few minutes to settle into. QFWFQ at Summerhall seems determined never to settle at all.
Inspired by Italo Calvino’s If on a winter’s night a traveler, Gregory Nussen’s remarkable Fringe debut embraces the same playful disregard for conventional storytelling. From the moment a voiceover welcomes us on behalf of the Institute for the Posterity of Everything and instructs us to “let the world around you fade”, the show launches into a deliberately chaotic hour that feels as though it could veer off in any direction at any moment. In lesser hands, it might be exhausting. Instead, it is strangely soothing.
Part of that comes from Nussen’s immensely engaging performance. Standing amid a stage dominated by an impossibly cluttered desk, Nussen guides the audience through a stream of stories, observations and memories that appear, at first glance, to have little connection to one another. It feels as though someone’s entire train of thought has simply been emptied out onto the stage.
Initially, the show seems to be about the fact you’ve chosen to sit in that room and watch this particular performance. Then suddenly it’s about Helsinki. Then music. Then gender identity. Then Zionism, Judaism and Gaza. Just when you think you’ve found a narrative thread to hold onto, QFWFQ happily wanders off somewhere else.
And yet, somehow, it never loses you.
The genius of the piece lies in the way these seemingly disconnected stories gradually begin speaking to one another. Boundaries between anecdotes blur until it becomes difficult to identify where one story ends and another begins. The result is less like traditional theatre and more like being invited inside someone else’s mind, following every tangent, memory and association wherever it happens to lead.
That chaotic structure should not work nearly as well as it does. For a show that often appears to be making itself up as it goes along, there is an extraordinary confidence underpinning it all. Nussen is an engaging guide through the labyrinth, balancing absurd humour, genuine insight and moments of surprising emotional weight.
Most impressive of all is the atmosphere the show creates. Despite touching on deeply personal experiences and complex political themes, there is something undeniably calming about the experience. The instruction to let the outside world fade quickly becomes less of a suggestion and more of an inevitability. For an hour, the rest of the Fringe simply disappears.
Strange, funny, thought provoking and utterly captivating, QFWFQ is one of those rare Fringe shows that feels impossible to adequately describe. You may not always know exactly where it’s going, but you’ll be enthralled by the journey.
 
 
 
 
Listings and ticket information can be found here