Review by Steve Bennett

Review

A policeman and his colleague, Rex, are on the trail of a man called Ty, but they are spotted and losing him. 'What happened?,' asks the copper. 'Ty ran, he saw us, Rex.'

Yes, Brianstopping have a fondness for puns, wonderfully convoluted and groanworthy, even though the sheer density of them is impressive.

Wordplay isn't the only thing these two men can do, though, and there's some wonderful sketches about childbirth and alien invasions. But mostly it's pretty pedestrian, even though they still get laughs from the 12 of us rattling round in the sizable Belly Dancer venue.

It's all fairly inoffensive, although during this performance a bunch of Scottish guys walked out when one sketch ended with the implication that the two characters were gay, muttering 'that's sick' as they left. The less bigoted will find much to enjoy here, and for those that have seen a lot of comedy at the Fringe, there's a lovely gag towards the end on improvisational comedy groups.

The big problem with this show is the size of the room, with the actors forced to make a lengthy run off-stage and back on after each sketch for costume changes. The guys attempt to cover the lulls with a pre-recorded 'DVD commentary' where they supposedly reveal 'behind the scenes' secrets about the creation of the sketch. But these parodies just aren't funny after the first time, so creating major lulls in the show's energy. It's made even worse by the fact that the 'commentary' is hard to make out clearly.

Haemorrage is a moderately well-written and performed show that still feels disjointed and sloppy - not to mention completely out of place in its venue.

Dean Love

Review date: 1 Jan 2006
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett