String V SPITTA – Soho Theatre, London

In a competitive world of children’s birthday party entertainment, who will come out on top in String v SPITTA? Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Ed MacArthur take us all back to childhood to find out.

String v SPITTA

Well, what a revelation.  Who would have thought that the funniest, cleverest show I’ve seen in a while would come in the form of a participatory children’s birthday party for adults? And yes that’s exactly what String v SPITTA is.  Starring Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Ed MacArthur as two very different children’s entertainers, the show unfolds over the space of an hour and includes musical exposition, flashbacks, puppets, beatboxing, nursery rhymes, magic tricks and more.

It’s the sort of thing I can’t quite imagine working as a pitch.  Rival birthday party entertainers, Silvester String from a privileged West London background and MC SPITTA the newcomer from East London, compete for gigs.  One has an in with the privileged families of Chelsea, being from just such a background himself. The other has built his following himself, on TikTok. The parents would rather have String, you know, but now that the kids can see the options for themselves, well… Both share a dream: to perform for an oligarch’s child.  Both are willing to go to great lengths to win the business. Indeed so far that they end up sharing a stage for the very first time.  

Smith-Bynoe and MacArthur tell this tale while also performing for us. The audience become the six year olds at a birthday party (plus one bodyguard named Dimitri).  Mr String sing songs that start out rather Gilbert & Sullivan, accompanying himself on the keyboard or accordion.  SPITTA, as his name would suggests, spits bars, improvising and having fun.  The magic comes when they start to work together, blending musical genres, loosening up Mr String’s style and lending some additional structure to SPITTA’s. The styles blend remarkably well: maybe that TV show they were angling for at one point would be a good idea after all.

The Competitive World Of Children’s Birthday Parties

The format works for two reasons.  Firstly, the writing is very good.  Sharp and funny, yet not afraid to dig into the darker spaces of privilege and exploitation, sending up the socio-economic dynamics which are the basis for the show’s odd-couple pairing.  There are some great one-liners in there, and both performers are able to roll with a bit of audience banter to boot. Secondly, Smith-Bynoe and MacArthur are very talented.  To have both comic timing and musical talent is a formidable duo. And it makes even more sense to me when I read that Smith-Bynoe and MacArthur have both worked as children’s entertainers in the past. Magic tricks and balloon animals don’t become that effortless overnight.

And actually there’s a third reason in there too: it’s fun to channel your inner child for a while. As an adult, the only opportunity you have to go to a kid’s birthday party is as a chaperone. Boring. String v SPITTA instead takes us back to the playground, encouraging us to make animal noises, sing a nursery rhyme, do some call and response.  The audience gets into it, playing along in a notably buoyant mood. Unless you’re Dimitri, it’s some good, low stakes audience participation.

String v SPITTA is at the Soho Theatre on its way to Edinburgh.  This isn’t its first outing: the show was conceived in 2016 after the pair met in Edinburgh and has had a couple of short runs at the Soho Theatre before. From what I’ve read, each run has seen it a little tighter. 2023’s version is current: performing for an oligarch didn’t have quite the same taint of sanctions back in 2016 that it does today. String v SPITTA deserves great audiences up in Edinburgh, it’s the perfect mix of funny but not flippant, feel-good and plain old fun.

 Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 4/5

String v SPITTA on at Soho Theatre until 10 August (no shows on 6th or 7th) then at Edinburgh Fringe 18-26 August 2023

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