I caught this troop of budding young comedians last year and was mightily impressed by their ingenuity, their sense of comic timing, and the wonderfully risqué formula of getting young teenagers to do very adult drama. Well, guess what, they’re back and they’re as good as ever, and though one or two of them seem to have grown up a bit, they are still one of the freshest and most exciting things on the fringe.
No programme or press release was available so it is impossible to single any one of them out by name (probably this is deliberate). It would seem unfair to do so as well but, hell, life isn’t fair and the Fringe is a blood sport after all, so can I just get out of the way that I think the tall one with the gorgeous red hair and the small one with the bow tie and the shockingly adult mannerisms are absolutely superb performers. They will know who they are, and they could blow the socks off some of the more mature stand-up comics appearing in Edinburgh. My hat goes off too to the girls who do the wonderful young mums sketches and the departure lounge monologue. I loved the Polish plumber who cross-dresses and attracts the sexual attentions of the man (boy?) of the house, and the Mexican cabaret routine in which one performer becomes sexually fixated on a member of the audience - luckily it wasn’t me.
There was the usual minor chaos associated with a first performance. The cast had just arrived the day before and this was literally the first time they had put it on the stage. It was a mark of true professionalism all round that they smoothed over the rough edges, and got on with the job in front of a highly appreciative audience. I loved the moment when the stethoscope of the emotionally inadequate doctor came apart in his hands, and the Pirates of the Caribbean sketch when these youngsters showed just what to do right and how to do it when things start to go wrong. They quite literally had the audience eating out of the palms of their hands.
My one quibble would be that some of the sketches had slightly untidy endings, but this just may be a first-night thing. I have every confidence they will sort it out. This show is like a blast of fresh air, and the young performers are by turn irreverent, profane and very, very funny. It’s only on for a week. Do not miss it on any account , or you will have to wait another year.
[David Scott]
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