Review: COME. SEE. SAW, Fringe 2025

Birdy found herself at Paradise in the Vaults – in a dark, dimly-lit little theatre, she didn’t know quite what to expect, waiting on Jigsaw… or, is it Billy the doll? (Spoiler: It’s Billy)

The poster for this one absolutely sold me. Alex Walker transforms herself into Billy the Doll; the recognisable puppet we all know from the popular SAW franchise. And, boy does Billy have a story to tell!

Here’s the official description:

Alex’s Jigsaw journey started as a bit in 2023 when she binge watched SAW I through IX to prepare for the release of SAW X. It was during this period that Alex began to lose sense of where she ended and Billy the Doll began. Her neighbours began noticing their tools missing and strange traps set up in their mailboxes and sheds. COME. SEE. SAW. is an absurd character-based show about the untold “true” story of Billy the Doll. Who was Billy before SAW, and where is Billy now? Are you ready to play the game?

Vibe

Alex sets the vibe right away when she first appears on stage as Billy, riding a children’s trike. I was even more entertained when she started taking the trike up the stairs, and seeing the look of bewildered horror and amusement on a latecomer’s face as they entertained the room at this point.

It only got sillier from there, and I was 100% here for it.

The show itself

Like many popular villains, Billy the doll has a backstory to tell you about. And it starts all the way back when we look at his family tree. Did you know his dad is a Furby? We get to hear all about it, along with Billy’s forays into sports, his beautiful family, and where it all went wrong (meeting John Kramer the serial killer).

We get to hear what happened, and why things went so badly wrong for Billy – as well as for some of the characters/victims who met their end in SAW.

There’s some audience participation in this show, as we were asked to write some questions on red slips of paper for Billy to read out and answer with ‘fatherly advice’. We were told we could ask literally anything. He might have answered some of the audience’s questions, but certainly not mine.

COME.SEE.SAW is a quirky, fun show that includes dad jokes (some of them were gold, to be fair), physical comedy, and allows Billy the doll to build up his fatherly character’s redemption arc. In the end, you’ll be cheering for Billy, and may even want to play a game with him.

Overall

I enjoyed COME.SEE.SAW, and it definitely exceeded my expectations with some off-the-wall humour and some real character commitment by Walker.