Show Rating:

Review

In their Penny Spubb incarnation, Anna Crilly and Katy Wix create one of the weirder shows on the Fringe. Near-impossible to define, their awkward sketches walk the line between success and failure ­ sometimes falling heavily on the wrong side - but always remain intriguing and ambitious nonetheless.

This year's offering is less melancholy than last year's strange debut, but just as fearless as they play their high-risk game with uncomfortable silences, deliberately gauche acting and punchline-free scenes.

Several sketches are more conventional this time out, and much as their bolder creativity is admirable, it's these that provide the best moments. The grandiose Michael Buble taking his equally showy family out to lunch is a special highlight, as is the fairly straightforward spoof of bad stand-up. Some of the more blatant attempts to be whacky, such as donning prawn outfits to recreate a lounge singing double act are just too self-consciously surreal, with little in the script to back it up.

When they marry this oddness with some purpose and jokes is when things really excel. Bellamy, the baguette-nosed 'mute' who could speak perfectly getting a makeover from a Ted-Danson obsessed madwoman seems, on paper, to be overburdened with contrived wackiness, but it is, actually, quite brilliant.

The material, though, is very uneven with such wonderful sketches sitting cheek-by-jowl with those that are almost painfully difficult to endure. And the duo have an obstinance that means when you do encounter a bad sketch, they will test your patience with it to the very limit. Sometimes even the good ones outstay their welcome, too.

Both Crilly and Wix are very engaging performers, able to pull off both finely tuned naturalism and big, bold moves with equal aplomb, and when they allow the mask to slip just a little you can detect a playful dynamic between them.

This subtlety and charm, combined with their boldness of invention, is a hugely appealing proposition. But for the second year running, they are remain in the category of 'not there yet', even though it would be wonderful if they do crack it.

Steve Bennett