Review by Steve Bennett

This is an impressive showcase for Ben Willbond, demonstrating his compelling skill at creating and inhabiting finely detailed comic characters.

Range might not be his strong suit ­ all his creations being one sort of upper middle-class twit or another ­ but they are utterly convincing, so close are they to the real characters he's parodying.

First up is Teddy Wellsley-Smith, a well-connected Sloane with a penchant for upturned collars and Stella who works vaguely 'in finance' and has a tendency to give words Italian-sounding endings in a misguided attempt to sound cool.

This sort of character has been spoofed various times before, which makes it hard for Willbond to stand apart. But what he has created is devastatingly accurate, with barely a hint of exaggeration. In fact, you wonder if he hasn't just hung around the bars of Fulham taking notes and letting the character write itself.

Another creation is Julio, a wealthy, posturing, frilly-shirted mambo-loving Colombian drug dealer with an unpronounceable surname. This is the most flamboyant creation Willbond presents, though he doesn't quite know what to do with such an extravagant personality ­ and winds up doing some surreal stand-up style routines about newscasters, but in a silly accent.

We also meet Captain Hugh Stoker, a humourless Army recruitment officer whose mask of invulnerability slowly and skilfully slips during his pitch, and, my favourites, Jed and Jules Simmonds, a couple of Place In The Sun style expats who sold up and bought a vineyard in France, thus exposing their incompetence and incompatibility.

The strength of these characters are the slow revelations of the tensions and unhappiness behind their false, matey exteriors. So convincing are these two given life that the audience ooh and aah in true pantomime style as the insults and accusations fly.

Jules is played by Katy Brand, an adroit comic actress in the Caroline Quentin mould with a wonderful cartoony face ideal for this sort of work. She also covers some of the costume-change cracks in the narrative with a couple of splendid creations of her own, most notably the giggling, doped-up nun and Teddy's equally posh girlfriend, Olivia Beaton-Jones.

The performances are faultless, with Willbond proving himself a worthy pretender to Steve Coogan's character comedy crown. As with many character-based shows like this, the script has room for more jokes ­ but even this strike rate is better than most.

Review date: 1 Jan 2004
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett