I really enjoyed this show. I would like to strongly disagree with a few of the points made by the official Chortle review. Firstly, though, I'll agree with one of the words he used - "imaginative". This was an imaginative and creative take on a sketch show. Sure, they visited some territory that other shows have visited, the classic good-cop/bad-cop routine, for example, but they took those routines off in a new direction, relevant to their raison d'etre, the fusion of sci-fi/horror with sketch comedy. So, when the bad-cop is a poltergeist, and it's realised in a neat way, I don't see what's not to like. Additionally, some of the sketches took a silly idea to an inevitable silly conclusion, by logical, but exaggerated steps. This is good writing. Some sketches worked better than others, but the show had laughter and applause breaks, and it was enjoyable throughout. Perhaps the ending was a bit out of left field for some, and it required paying attention to the various setups through the show in order to make full sense. The whole show, though, was delivered with aplomb by a cast who clearly knew how to sell us a combination of deliberately slick and deliberately ramshackle knockabout comedy. Great writing, funny lines, great performances. What's not to like. As some people treat the venue as a drop-in centre when you're on the free festival, perhaps the reviewer should bear that in mind and cut the performers some slack. Even more so, perhaps the reviewer should not assume that people drop their standards when they're doing a free show. These guys put their heart and soul into their show and it paid off. Nice work!

Ashley Frieze, September 2010

Hello, Paul from Rogue's here... I'm not going to shout down the review - but for the record - the walk outs were largely explained by the fact that Lewis Shaffer's show started 20 mins after our show in the room next door to the counting house. So sadly, some of these people where just at our show to kill some time before Lewis' show. I figured this out when I'd see the same crowd come out of the later show afterwards. Oddly enough, these groups (more often than not) came back to see the show in full next time. Of course, some left because they hated it too - but by and large (as it was a free show) our show was a waiting room that they could slip out of. SO yes, people walked out, but they usually came back... and we didn't lose half of our audience that night, we lost around 12 people (those people came back in that instance too). The audience enjoyed our show that day (gave us one of our biggest donations after the show and the ONLY person who didn't enjoy it was the reviewer...

Paul, September 2010

'Worst of all...water being squirted into the audience'- clearly Mr Stone has never been to the theatre before. Come on! x

Katy, September 2010

I went to see the Rogues and the place was packed full to the brim with people enjoying themselves! Instead of being an intelligent critique of the show this review concentrates too hard on trying to be witty but failing, instead being overly harsh, and the paragraph devoted to people walking out is just lazy reviewing. I thought that the guys were great as did the rest of the audience on the night I saw them – I enjoyed the Rogues and look forward to seeing more of them in the future.

Jez, August 2010

Agree with Steve on this. This show was very funny. If anyone needs to concentrate on their writing abilities, I believe it should be the reviewer. Each member is an accomplished performer and that can be seen in their individual performances. Sorry no personal offence meant but poor review, funny show!

Alex, August 2010

I couldn't disagree more with Jason's review; he must have seen the show on an off day, because when my friends and I went, Rogues' Handbook was a slick, inventive and yes, funny, production. We all placed in our top five of the 30 shows we saw that week, and deservedly so. I for one look forward to seeing more from the Rogues in the future, and so should you.

Steve, August 2010