As a (slightly ashamed) former Twitter (now X) debate bro, Discord user, and reformed Tumblr fanatic, I am fascinated by how we have welcomed the Internet (in all its eye-melting, brain-rotting glory) with open arms. The Internet is a juicy thematic fruit just ripe for the picking, and I, a budding Luddite and long-time Edinburgh Fringe fan, was excited to see what the newest CUMTS offering had in store for us. Set to a funk-jazz score, the musical follows a quirked-up Aunt June, played by Jessi Rogers, who takes the technologically inept family member character to the absolute limit. After struggling to connect with moody discord-using niece Andy (Ava Fitzhugh), she accidentally finds herself on the dark web and unwittingly participates in an online drug ring.

“The internet is a juicy thematic fruit just ripe for the picking”

It’s a tough challenge to condense material into a tight 50-minute Fringe slot. In an interview with Varsity, writer Ariella Gordon talks about having to “kill her darlings”. Unfortunately, I suspect the wrong darlings have been killed. The show is a comedy musical, and functions effectively as one, albeit in a rather millennial, wink wink nudge nudge, fourth-wall-breaking in-place-of jokes kind of way. It’s fun and ridiculous and full of puns, but the wackiness feels unearned when there’s little substance to fall back upon. The musical, which is ostensibly about how the internet has affected our lives and relationships, doesn’t seem to have much to say about online culture at all. Cryptocurrency scams and the dark web are presented as something the characters simply fall into – there is little examination of how the internet really draws us in. Sure, it acts as an outlet for human connection for outsiders Andy and June, but the internet is presented as a generic villain, represented by moody ensemble members in dark hoodies. It’s cartoonish and isolated, and I found myself wishing for a sharper interrogation of the beautiful, dark, addictive playground that is the internet. In the world of Ctrl+Alt+Deceit! , Andy and June seem stupid for falling into its trap.

“The internet is presented as a generic villain, represented by moody ensemble members in dark hoodies”

Perhaps Gordon and director Coco Lefkow-Green intended the heart of the show to be the mother-daughter-esque relationship between Andy and Aunt June. However, the relationship is underdeveloped and unconvincing when the characters feel like one-dimensional caricatures. Andy is an angsty teen who gets her lunch stolen by bullies, wears Doc Martens, and says things like “you wouldn’t understand”, and “ugh, whatever” when storming out the room. Aunt June is kooky and naive, packs Andy lunches, and comes out with platitudes like “true friends make you smile”. The characterisation is not quite outrageous enough to be funny satire, but not original nor nuanced enough to be taken in earnest either. Perhaps too much time was spent on making finance guy jokes (which in fairness, were executed perfectly by Kristen Chang) and pot-related puns, and not enough on developing this central relationship. By the end, when Andy and June hug it out, we are left confused as to why they’ve reconciled and why we should care.

Regardless, it was undoubtedly an extremely polished production. Lefkow-Green makes neat use of the round staging, and the hand-held microphones (used in the original production of Six!) surprisingly did not distract from the powerhouse performances. The limited space was used well, with Xingbei Lin’s colourful lighting cleverly adding variation to the set design. Gordon is a talented composer and the original score soars, somewhat making up for the lacklustre characters in the show by just being so damn fun. The band is similarly a highlight (shoutout to their conga line in the Sewing Ladies’ Soiree number), filling the space with bright flute passages and saxophone solos. The singing in this show is outstanding, from Rogers’ clear-as-day belting to Fitzhugh and Chang’s stunning jazzy vocals.

The twist at the end confirmed my suspicions about the show - it does not take itself seriously, so we probably shouldn’t either. In an entirely unsatisfying, “it was all a dream” type ending, we are left feeling shocked, but in an empty way, completely devoid of catharsis. Upon reflection, that is exactly how I feel after a few hours of doom-scrolling on TikTok … so Ctrl+Alt+Deceit! may have hit the nail on the head after all.