Review by Steve Bennett

It’s an ethos Gemma Arrowsmith, Steve Mould and Jess Ransom have embraced with their ostensibly po-faced examination of what stimuli makes us emit a laugh - or ‘sudden involuntary vocal event’ in their pseudo-scientific lingo.

With their lab coats, clipboards and laptops, they promise to reveal the most hilarious joke in the world, as proved by algebraic algorithms and statistical analysis. Field Study is essentially an hour-long parody of those bogus equations canny publicists manage to place in newspapers every silly season, promising a formula for funny.

They are obviously treading treacherous ground. Trying to be funny by not being funny while discussing what’s funny is a difficult trick to pull off, but they make more than a decent fist of it.

Their examination of the subject leads to experiments into such topics as the effect of alcohol on a sense of humour, offering one punter a can of weak shandy to see how his reaction to bar-room jokes changes. The researchers themselves are completely detached from their subject matter, being baffled by the very idea of comedy.

These set pieces aren’t quite so inspired as the trio seem to think, but it’s not so much the ideas that make the show, as the performers’ playful skill in executing them. All three of them demonstrate a keen ability to work with the audience and react to whatever is thrown up, and they perfectly pitch a subplot about unresolved sexual tension in the laboratory.

Yet for all the cleverness, the high point is some good old-fashioned slapstick, with by far the best custard pie gag you’ll see this Fringe.

Field Study has the feel of a first Edinburgh show, with fine individual elements and flashes of inventiveness; falling short of being a great show but offering enough hints to suggest something much better lies ahead. I suspect we haven’t heard the last of this trio.

Reviewed by: Steve Bennett

Review date: 1 Jan 2007
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett