Scenes Of A Sketchual Nature - Fringe 2009
Live Review

The clue is in the title, there’s a lot about sex, sexual attitudes and most of it harsh, sometimes cruising the offensive area, but here the defence of ‘If it’s funny, it’s not offensive’ might be deployed, because in the main, the sketches are slick, brilliantly acted and original. However the cumulative effect of sex toys, prostitutes, rape, disability and murder, spiced with a bit of ironic, I hope, racism left me with something of a comedy hangover.

The fact that it’s presented by a fetching bunch of floppy-haired posh boys who in other times would either be in Brideshead Revisited or bragging about their City bonuses reinforces the casual misogyny. However, politically correct cavil aside, they do it very well. And some of the more gasp-inducing moments are cleverly structured so that you complete the allusion in your own mind and become complicit in the unpalatable act. Very smart move.

They sketches rip along, the scene changes are quick and covered with some excellent voiceovers and there is no weak link in the line up of performers. The group sketches are as successful as the individual and pair work.

It sounds basic, but nobody steps on anyone else’s laugh and the tags are shared pretty equally. Max Dickins may edge ahead slightly in the comedy acting stakes, he’s got a distinctive composure, but every one of them brings something to the party.

If I’ve got them right, Steve Garland has a fleeting look and manner of Peter Cook about him, which can’t hold him back, and Patrick Turpin and Chris Quaile have a lot of sparkling versatility to commend them and make great girls!

It should have a later time slot than teatime, this is definitely post-watershed content, but it is what it is, abrasive subject matter delivered with polish and class. If they can knock the on the head the self indulgent, near-corpsing aspects of the performance (which surely must be faked?) they will be even stronger.

Best of all, it’s an antidote to soppy whimsy and surreal nonsense, it’s rooted in sex, death and the end of the world. But perhaps next year they might explore a middle ground that’s not so relentless.