Review of his improvised loop machine show

Given that Dru Cripps’ act is essentially crowd work​ with a loop station, a certain capacity for failure is baked into his performance. However, in this Soho Theatre show as part of the London Crowd Festival, the misfires seemed to get under his skin slightly.

How much of his minor irritation is real and how much is an act is hard to ascertain, given low-key awkwardness is very much the brand of this disarmingly unassuming performer. Certainly the audience were not especially bothered by any good-natured faltering.

That’s probably because Cripps got everyone on side from the get-go with an extended icebreaking routine, encouraging us to provide sound effects for his gestures and mimes, without ever vocalising what we had to do.

It’s a simple but effective technique, binding us as a supportive community, with each gleeful look he gives to our participation making us feel like children who’ve pleased a parent. He has a pleasingly expressive face, especially when conveying a ‘WTF?’ response with his eyes alone.

He also has quite a child-like look himself, in jumpsuit, woolly hat with earflaps and an oversized medallion, indicating a 1990s hip-hop swagger he avowedly does not possess.

Taking his first idea and running with it, Cripps then starts sampling the best noises from the audience to be looped into the first backing tracks to his tomfoolery.  It’s all gently silly stuff.

Further light interrogation of the audience of the usual compere-y kind finds a couple of subjects for improvised raps: the Google software engineer who confessed to getting two days’ wear out of a pair of socks, and the woman in a  etching velour jumpsuit with a thing for magpies.

The songs he creates based on these interactions are fairly simple, the rap format requiring just a couple of rhymes he can repeat rather than the demands of a full-on musical like the Showstoppers mob have to create. And the mundanity of his bars very much in keeping with his brag-free take on the usually boastful genre.

He jokes that he’s screwed if the tech fails - as it subsequently does, though a simple ‘turn it off and on again’ fixes the deck. Plunging the room into darkness was his idea, however. It all feeds into the notion this is a battle between a comedian and his circumstances, which sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses.

The throwaway nature of the improvised verses and ‘what do you do?’ chat means this is never going to be an hour of substance, but it hits the mark as an entertaining hour in the presence of an affable guy, using his skills and tech to bring a smile to everyone’s faces.

• Dru Cripps: Juicy Bits will be at Hoots @ Potterow during the Edinburgh Fringe.

Review date: 7 Jun 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Soho Theatre