Review by Steve Bennett

Initially, this knowing brand of anti-comedy seems both interesting and amusing, opening with a clever and unusual approach to getting the audience into just the right frame of mind.

But sadly, this is not sustained much beyond that initial sketch, and the show swiftly descends into unfunny, pretentious, up-its-own-backside tedium.

There's the odd redeeming moment, but mostly its just self-indulgent tripe, with the characters boring on about existentialism and, oh, who cares what else? It's neither interesting nor important.

The finale explains it all - a very well-executed and reasonably satisfying denouement - but it relies entirely on the bulk of the preceding show being so painfully bad for its effect.

Does an audience really have to be tortured for 50 minutes for a good five-minute pay-off? It seems unnecessarily sadistic.

Yes, it's clever deconstructionism, and shows that spill outside the walls of the venue, as this does, always ignite a spark of interest. But it's not actually funny, which is surely the point.

Artists may have to suffer for their art, but paying punters really shouldn't have to.

Review date: 1 Jan 2009
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett