Right from the word ‘go’ it appears this won’t be the most original sketch show ever to grace the Fringe – the Gubernaculum, a group of Oxbridge doctors, are just one in a long line of sketch troupes to have come up with a scene in which a children’s TV presenter says some inappropriate things. The ‘pull back and reveal’ at the end of this opener doesn’t come as much of a surprise, either.
They do, however, slowly start to drift into weirder territory, which sometimes pays off purely for the sake of novelty, but can get a bit too weird. There’s one sketch that’s barely comedy at all, more a little tragic play set in a restaurant, injected with an utterly bizarre appearance from a singing ovary. Even for fans of surreal humour this comes across as disjointed and plain strange.
There are a couple of very enjoyable performances from the cast. David Black is impressive throughout but the standout moments belong almost exclusively to Jaffar Khan who can switch between hilarious imposing characters and amusing subtle mannerisms in the blink of an eye. He’s great as Tony the Tiger, even if the sketch isn’t anything special, and is the best thing in the news reporter sketch, despite his small role.
The strangest thing about the show is the complete lack of connection between the cast and the audience. They whizzed through the hour seemingly unaware of the crowd until they got to the last sketch. It’s by far the best thing in the show and it looks like it might end on a high, when all of a sudden the presenter breaks character to say goodbye from the cast. The lights went down and the audience remained still, confused as to whether it was finished or not. The cast made it clear that it was over by beginning to pack up and the crowd shuffled out in a baffled silence.
