REVIEW: A Foot is Not an Appropriate Prize for the Tombola, Daniel McVey, EdFringe 2026 ★★★★

Silly, camp and somehow strangely nostalgic, a prize-every-time show perfect for your afternoon.

A Foot is Not an Appropriate Prize… follows Lydia, brought to life by writer/performer Daniel McVey, who has been put in charge of the church tombola and continues to push forth collecting donations and giving out prizes despite having been shut down earlier in the day when a severed foot was accidentally won as a prize. The titular tombola is actually used throughout the play, giving real prizes to audience members who interact with the show. As the police investigation continues this turns into a murder mystery to try and discover who is behind the severed feet.

The play uses extensive audience interaction to build the small town village’s world, handing scripts to audience members and requiring them to bring to life. At times, I wished the audience interaction moments had instead been performed by additional actors, or even one additional actor playing all the parts with fun costume changes, as I found moments of audience interaction with audience members who spoke less clearly led to key plot points being hard to follow, however I believe this decision often benefitted the central comedy of the piece.

A Foot is Not an Appropriate Prize… goes from the feeling of a rural drag brunch, to a murder mystery, before becoming a full-on sci-fi horror which focuses on themes of cult domination, as Lydia eventually becomes one with the murderous being that is taking over the town, believing that the murderers were for the betterment of the town and changing her tombola’s stand tune from “knit and crochet” to “submit and obey”. It is a gloriously dark twist. 

The show is beautifully designed, with a tombola table full of brick-a-brak that took me back to my childhood. The whimsical, twee aesthetic feels nostalgic, and helps to add to the unsettling energy towards the second half of the piece. The set also features some beautiful visual gags, including the sign that says Tombola being altered to say Tomb. 

This is a gorgeous and deeply entertaining hour of camp chaos.

Recommended Drink: A dusty bottle of wine you won off your school fete’s Tombola and had to go get your mum to retrieve because they wouldn’t give alcohol to a child.

Catch A Foot is Not an Appropriate Prize for the Tombola at Pleasance Courtyard on August 31st at 3:30pm (60mins) Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.