Review by Steve Bennett

Formed at Nottingham University in 2006, this seven-piece sketch comedy troupe have obviously received frighteningly high doses of theatre training. Described as a ‘cohesive comedy sketch show’, the Slippery Soapbox has a crafted storyline that many much more experienced sketch show writers would have been proud to have created. It was evident that the show had been well edited with very few scenes appearing to be shoehorned in because they were thought just too funny to drop, as is often the case.

Heavily influenced by the Mighty Boosh, The Spotbanded Skat had some great surreal one-liners and silly wordplay that often poked fun at the absurdities of modern youth speak and culture.

Using the delightfully absurd premise of down-on-his-luck flatmate Warren’s search for a mythical fish called the Spotbanded Skat, every scene showcased the performers’ wide range of skills and comedic talents.

However that’s where the problem lay; not unlike watching a drama college end-of-year revue, Shut Yo Face took every opportunity available to dance, leap, pose and gurn – often to the detriment of the comedy.

With more dramatic energy than the Kids From Fame on coke, it’s a real shame that their enthusiasm was allowed to become grating by the show’s unrelenting pace.

Many of their best gags were left behind in a frantic race to move on to the next idea or overshadowed by some serious over-acting.

Self-referencing nods to their ‘flimsy plot devices’, sketches about being ‘bitten by the acting bug’ and other drama school clichés were well received by the predominantly teenage thespian crowd but left other members of the audience underwhelmed.

Similarly, the bizarrely incongruous dance routines served little but to showcase the troupe’s dance training and did nothing to add to the actual show. It’s clear they feel they need to prove themselves and, ironically, that’s where they let themselves down.

You can’t help but feel that if they had more confidence in their excellent comedy writing they wouldn’t need to dress it up in over-elaborate performance. These are undoubtedly talented comedians who, if they can learn to relax (or appear to), will be stars of the future.

Reviewed by: Becky Singh

Review date: 1 Jan 2007
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett