PROS FROM DOVER A riot of innovative sketching mo
It’s not enough these days for sketch show gangs to trot merrily on stage before simply delivering sketches followed by skits and topped off with some shards of broken comedy. Somehow the form needs to be shaken up, given a twist. dealt a postmodern clip round the ear and sent off packing with the fourth wall coming a—tumblin' down. All of which can be a shoddy mess in the wrong hands. Pros From Dover are the right hands.
The trio immediately set out their stall, insisting there won’t be blackouts between scenes while dealing with a stream-of-consciousness heckler leaving her sitting like a scolded child. Thereafter comes a series of sketches which are at worst inventive, at best wildly hysterical, particularly the brutal medical tale which at first appears shocking but by extending the essential gag simply becomes a riotous
endurance of glorious tastelessness. LAPIES I“ WA'OT'NG . count. The sketches come from the French and The set is concluded with an innovative Gemng Bmwn'e po'ms for ""5 Show m. Saunders school of big acting/soft punchlines but time-space continuum ruse which plays what it lacks in writing, it makes up for in their around with the hour we’ve seen and Anyone who has broken their childhood promise to physical expressions and high energy performances. proves these guys truly are pros. ‘do their best’ will find this show pleasingly The most successful is an airport information clerk (Brian Donaldson) subversive. The Brownie leader, Brown Owl, starts the who cruelly mocks those seeking her assistance by I Underbelly, 0844 545 8252, until 24 show with a finger pressed to her pursed lips and the mimicking their every move. In a flash, Palmer’s Aug (not 72), 4.25pm, E8.50—£‘70 audience is told to be ‘quiet as mice’. The nostalgic whole mood changes from sweetness to wickedly (8750—29). theme is completed with the overpowering brown and mischievous. Little dialogue is needed, but a few yellow colour scheme and an BOs-tastic soundtrack. choice catchphrases round out the characters, such FRANK WOODLEY Based around the story of a Brownie reunion, Ladies as the Brownie-made-good, Judge Julie and her GhOSt Story With gigg'es m in Waiting is a series of vignettes of the now grown- court-welcoming, ‘aw, don’t get up’. Only a couple of - up badge-earners. sketches suffer from length, but generally the show is It’s a neat construct which gives life to a host of fast-paced with barely a breath for the costume characters including an Essex judge, a lazy fitness changes. If there’s a badge for amusingness then the instructor and an unimpressed careers advisor. The Ladies in Waiting team have earned it. actors (Carolina Giammetta, Charlotte Palmer and (Emma Lennox) Gareth Come) have cut their teeth on TV shows such I P/easance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 25 Aug (not 13), as Extras, and all know how to make each scene 4.45pm, BIO-£7 7 ($850—$950). release, she to heavenly plains and he for achievements is uncertain but anyone out the front door. see non_FeStival magazine of a right-.Wing tendency (or grasping a The narrators apparent emphysema subscription to a lad mag) is unlikely to and the overuse of slapstick detract feel comfortable in the face of Russell from this show and it was also a little (including such variations as Kane's tenacious liberal stand-up. too long. However, Woodley is a Danny/Danielle) might be the best way (Brian Donaldson) charming, funny man and while the love to fast-track towards a career in I Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until story draws you in, it's the asides that comedy, the nation’s Russells are 25 Aug (not 20), 8pm, £8. 50—£‘9. 50 get the most laughs. Any one of his arguably the ones who are truly hitting (EB—£9). talents — singer, stand-up. acrobat, the heights. With messrs Brand and Frank Woodley is a multi-talented man actor — is worthy of a show in its own Howard having risen to varying degrees whose one-man show, Possessed, is a right. I just hope he survives the nightly of proper fame in the last couple of surprising, zany, and dramatic mix of coccyx pain. (Kate Gould) years, it can only be a matter of time ‘ acrobatics. slapstick, song, pathos. wit, I Assembly Rooms, 623 3030, until 25 before citizen Kane catches up with and caricature. The wheezing narrator Aug (not 77 8 79), 6.45pm, £13—E7 5 these sharp-talking terriers. tells us this is a spooky, scary love (£1 2—537 3). With a couple of successful Fringe story. Model boat maker Louis has not years under his belt, this jittery. left his house for some years and RUSSELL KANE occasionally awkward Essex lad has no wakes one morning, possessed by the Essex boy made 900d “0. intention of letting up and his 60-minute ghost of Phoebe, a stowaway on the meditation on the flaws of humans has Maggie Rose. the model he happens to While a cursory glance at the Fringe a thumping heart and burning soul. "' be working on at the time. They fall in programme might suggest that being Whether his tough father will be in any love and find the key for their mutual blessed with the forename Dan way proud of his son's current
30 'I’HE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 7—14 Aug 2008