Fringe has always hosted a variety of comedic plays about humans playing animals. There have even been many plays in the more specific genre of humans playing pest animals. We’ve had rats, raccoons, and now pigeons. The recent prevalence of this type of show naturally demands that new entries must be particularly original and creative, or else risk disappointment by comparison.

In this case, I was sadly disappointed. Like many plays of this type, there were plenty of puns, explorations of what it means to be human or animal, and copious amounts of audience participation. The show didn’t seem interested in mining anything deeper than that, which can be fine if it’s clever and funny regardless, but it didn’t quite achieve that either. The end seemed to try reaching towards something more heartfelt, but the sudden pivot felt disingenuous and unearned. The repetition of lackluster gags had this show feeling longer than its 60 minute runtime.