WITTANK Inventive sketches from young team 0000
On first glance. it‘s a bit of a rubbish name. And on second inspection. even when you see that WitTank actually serves a dual purpose (being a pun on a particular sex move and the suggestion of a container full of humour), it's still mildly annoying. Yet this group of fine young comic actors straight out of Durham are far from irritating. Spilling out sketches and casting up scenes that are as uniquely inventive as they are downright funny. There's a brilliant exposition of the many different uses of a towel (no. really) and a Diana Spencer piece that proves that. when all‘s said and done. it‘s actually not “too soon'. There are silly songs and daft props but they are put in the shade when inspired tales are dreamed up such as a confrontation between classic children's story characters. WitTank have cooked up a Sexy Pudding that we should all be taking a chunk out of. (Brian Donaldson) I C soco, 0845 260 7234. until 26 Aug, 6.05pm, $850—$960 (USO—£8.50).
HILS BARKER
Fanciful but flaccid exhibitionism
Sinister social network sites are under precision attack in Hils Barker's character expose Exhibitionist! which links four lonely souls to ‘Profile Me'. an invention more Onrvellian than Facebook. Barker attempts to draw parallels between billionaire corporations such as Google and Apple with ever-decreasing civil privacy in the UK. A reference to the terrifying ‘Loopt' tracking system, which locates your friends on a mobile
map so you never have to ‘lunch alone
again' is its most poignant illustration.
The character comedy. however. involves too much stereotypical idiosyncrasies to match the ideals of its politicism. Barker depicts geeky IT technicians and suicidal Emos among others. but there is nothing strikingly original about their personas. Each is rendered with pitch perfect
performance. accent and props but fall short of laugh out loud playfulness. Barker is capable of witty one-liners. in particular her sex kitten journalist who works for Pretty Tied Up magazine. but misses out on too many opportunities. Barker's exhibitionist is fanciful but could have been much more. (Emma Lennox)
I Gilded Balloon Teviot, 668 I633. (inn/25 Aug. 4pm, $860—$950 (£77.60—f860).
KIOSK OF CHAMPIONS
Knockabout fun from undynamic duo 0000
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Describing themselves at the upshot as the 'conguerors of comedy' and 'buccaneers of WW. Richard Sandling (he of VHS: Death to DVD Fringe fame) and Stuart Goldsmith (he's toured with Mark Watson. you know) have managed to cobble together the most stripped—down sketch show imaginable.
Despite haying no props. Wigs or sets. and armed With only the slightest grasp of regional accents. they still succeed in creating an hour of captivating comedy, With scenes about whales. the moon and the common man's attitude to stand-up comics.
The less—thandynamic duo approach each sketch With pleasing. carefree attitudes and a genuine sense of knockabout fun. merrily slagging each other's faults and pouring scorn on individual attributes (and not in the mock-mocking way of most comedic double acts: it's not difficult to imagine them ripping each other apart off stage. too).
Let' s pray they never decm‘e to become consummate professionals. It'll be the death of them.
(Brian Donaldson) I The Canons' Gait. :366/1/18l, until 24 Aug, 5pm, free.
TWO EPISODES OF MASH
Potentially great sketches simmer to nothing .0
Their publicity photo brings to mind the sellotaped surrealist madness of
WW’MI/ii.
SCOTT CAPURRO
A mix of the inspired and the obnoxious 000
It’s been said that the older people get, the less worried they are about causing offence. Scott Capurro, veteran of some 15 Fringe summers, has clearly decided to go for broke this year, trampling all over every sacred cow and totem of political correctness he can dredge up, then rapid-fire splattering his audience with the resulting debris. It’s telling that, as the queue files into what the performer will later describe as ‘Anne Frank’s attic’ the audience members scurry for the seats furthest from the stage. Clearly, Capurro’s reputation precedes him.
When he initially turns his studied lasciviousness on a Bambi-eyed young man in the front row, who plays along gamely with his graphically lewd banter, the audience laughs 005in along, relieved not to be his chosen foil for the evening. At the point when he turns on a woman in the second row, demands to know whether she’s had an abortion recently and accuses her of not being able to keep her legs closed, it starts to feel like that moment of eyes-down embarrassment at a party when one particularly drunken guest becomes obnoxious.
When he’s in full solo flight, however, it’s exhilarating to witness Capurro kicking gleefully at the boundaries of taste and acceptability. Madeleine McCann, George W Bush and the Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad are just for starters. When he ramps up the set to spout forth on AIDS, paedophilia, racism and anal rape he provokes restrained bursts of incredulous, slightly nervous laughter. At times the material is genuinely bold and inspired, though it eventually starts to feel relentless and a bit contrived. At the end, Capurro slightly undermines his impact by needlessly explaining that all the anecdotes in the show are made up. For maximum shock value, he should have kept us guessing. (Allan Radcliffe) I Underbelly 0844 54:3 62:32. until 24 Aug, 9. lSp/n, 579.5047] l.5()
(5‘8. 50—5,‘ 10. :30).
seems to be alive and kicking at this year's Fringe) and hoping that the mere act of mentioning those folk has an inherent comedic quality. With a bit more work. these two could make beautiful sketch music together, but for now the consistency of writing is letting them down. (Brian Donaldson) I Pleasance Courtyard. 5:36 65:30, until 2:3 Aug. 0.30pm. £78.50—F96O (571-56).
early noughties Noble and Silver While their onstage relationship might. With a Wildly imaginative leap mind. make you think of Terry and June had they been members of Monty Python rather than Neighboiirhood Watch. Despite a promising start. it turns out that Joe Wilkinson and Diane Morgan's collective moniker is the most fascinating thing about them.
Sweetly daft sketches about a groomed falcon and a human cannonball gone astray make for fun watching and hint at something great but it's not too long before the pair have resorted to the tired format of namedropping slightly off kilter 'celebrities' (Kriss Akabusi's reputation
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Sep 7006 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 79