Close-Up: Live issue - Pot Noodle musical laps up Edinburgh limelight.

With Unilever giving its writers free rein, the Hamlet-cum-Carry On show was 'on message' for the brand.

Bestiality, murder, prostitution and sperm donation: not themes you would usually expect a brand to explore, but they're all covered in Mother's latest foray into non-traditional advertising, Pot Noodle: The Musical, which has just come to the end of its run at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Its self-parodic, slapstick humour and silly songs achieved a mixed reaction among hard-nosed fringe veterans, yet for those who could put aside their preconceptions about the production's commercial backing by Pot Noodle's parent Unilever, it was frivolous fun.

Loosely based on Hamlet (very loosely), the script was written by the Mother creatives Stuart Outhwaite, Ben Middleton, Scott Harris, Damien Eley and Ed Warren, and follows the tale of the villainous Allan Little, who kills his brother Barry in order to take over his Pot Noodle factory, disinherit Barry's daughter, Sandy, and get his grubby hands on Barry's hard-earned noodle business so he can splurge on his greatest loves - cars and prostitutes. Cue pantomime boos and hisses from the audience. It is then up to Sandy to save the day and overthrow her dastardly uncle.

This main story is punctuated by a sub-plot following two characters from the Pot Noodle 'miners' campaign, Digger and Steve. The pair are returning from Digger's wedding, where he has jilted his wife-to-be at the altar, fleeing a life of marital misery in favour of one filled with 'classic vintage porn' and 'Transformer bed sheets'.

The Shakespearean analogy may imply the production takes itself incredibly seriously - but as the plot summary shows, that is the last thing it does. Think Hamlet meets a Carry On film. It's unapologetically stupid, surreal, packed with silly dances, Python-esque humour and performed by a talented cast of just five who had the audience cackling throughout.

And it was by no means a small audience. Despite the unashamed Pot Noodle-centric plotline, and heavily branded poster promoting the show, the theatre was relatively full. Those who had locked their anti-capitalistic morals in their hotel rooms for the evening were rewarded. This was not an hour-long ad, crammed with Pot Noodle packshots and subliminal messages forcing us to shove freeze-dried noodle ...