Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Durham Revue are very much sticking to the tried-and-tested formula for student sketch troupes, dancing on to the stage with  carefully choreographed energy, all dressed in identical monochrome.

In a slightly roundabout way, they set up the idea that they’ve crash-landed on a tropical island which seems like it’s going to be the premise for the whole hour, but it’s immediately forgotten. About 30 minutes later, they return to it to suggest maybe they have to perform sketch comedy to escape, but not with any hope that the audience really cares about the set-up.

It’s not just stylistically that the revue is stuck in a rut. Some of these scenes could have been done by any student troupe at any point over the past 50 years – inside the Trojan Horse for instance, or the pretentious director reimagining Hamlet – with only the specific reference points changed.

Other skits are based on decent, if not wildly innovative, ideas, but are generally underdeveloped, offering different versions of the same gag rather than advancing. Highlights include the bull issuing a formal apology or a fashion influencer in the Second World War. It might be topical to do an Oasis skit on the day they’re playing Edinburgh, but rewriting She’s Electric to be about a whisk is pretty simplistic.

The few quickies they have avoid the stasis that affects the longer ones, getting in and out before you get bored, but not always before you’ve figured out the punchline for yourself.

All of the team are better actors than writers, even if sometimes prone to the over-theatrical. Gollum taking his precious ring to Antiques Roadshow is a typically Route One premise, but brought to life by Lex Irish’s excellently intense performance.

Then there’s the stand-out scene that seems to have parachuted in from a different, better show when Alannah O’Hare – having already established herself as ‘most likely to succeed’ from the troupe - performs an audience interaction sketch in the guise of Australian relationship guru Ocean Breeze. This adds a much-needed dash of spontaneity, with O’Hare proving herself adept at naturally funny crowd work as she oversees a fluid few minutes.

Almost immediately she brings a Henry VIII sketch to playful life too, as the gout-riddled monarch on a date with a potential wife. She looks like one to watch.

Aside from that, most sketches are greeted with polite applause rather than laughs. An acknowledgment, it seems, that ‘we see what you did there’ paired with a disappointment that that’s all they did.

• Chortle’s coverage of sketch and multi-character acts at the Edinburgh Fringe is supported by (but not influenced by) the Seven Dials Playhouse. Read more

Review date: 14 Aug 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Underbelly Cowgate