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ED2013 2/5 Reviews ED2013 Comedy Reviews
The Durham Revue – Friends Without Benefits (Durham Revue)
By Jonathan Mayo | Published on Saturday 10 August 2013
The material offered by this five-piece sketch group felt unoriginal, each sketch slowly building to a predictable punch-line. With fairly standard material revolving around children’s TV shows or clichés taken literally, there was nothing to get excited about, and this was compounded by uninspired staging and an over-reliance on plastic chairs, the troupe’s sole prop; almost every sketch saw the performers seated. The show wasn’t completely awful, however. There were moments which had the audience chuckling, and the musical interludes between sketches had been chosen to fit with the punch-line of the preceding scene, which was a nice touch. However, some jokes that felt particularly out of place made one wonder if they’d been scripted after picking said music. Ultimately, the writing let them down.
Underbelly Cowgate, until 25 Aug (not 13), 2.00pm.
tw rating 2/5 | [Jonathan Mayo]
