Mayor, Cabinet Minister and stooge; not the CV of Boris Johnson, but just some of the jobs attempted by Sandy Surname, the protagonist of the uneven, but entertaining narrative sketch show This Isn’t Working that FaceOddity premiered at this years Edinburgh Fringe and have transferred to the Etcetera Theatre, Camden.
Individual sketches are very entertaining and the performance/writing team is undoubtedly talented
Sandy is facing unemployment and is yet to find a job where the main duty is being unemployed. As such he makes his way to the local job centre after being bullied by a meditation app. There he is greeted by three job-centre employees with such absurd names as Fiddle Castro, Sid Knee and Frank Torkingto. They take to the stage with a dynamic and entertaining three-man rendition of the YMCA, a joke that I was disappointed did not pay off, with Sandy filling in as the last of the Village People at the end of the show. The job-centre workers send Sandy out on increasingly preposterous work placements which form the sketches that make up the bulk of the show.
The highlights of this job-searching odyssey include an ear-splitting and hilarious audition for the new town crier, from a pair of peculiarly bereted fools, coupled with a lovely one-liner about the difficulty of announcing the death of the previous incumbent. A sea captain’s absurd diversion from the phonetic alphabet during a distress call is another hit. The ship continues to go down as the captain laments his lost love. Colin Smiles, director of MI5, and his array of decoys and stooges are hilarious and showcase the talent of the four performers as they squeeze onto a tiny bench. When the writing and performances click in This Isn’t Working the absurdity really sings, but some of the sketches fall a bit flat.
Surname, appearing on Newsnight as the new chancellor of the exchequer started promisingly, but petered out. The sketch in the Inconvenience Store even acknowledged its own lack of punchline. The sections in the job centre designed to anchor the piece were a little bland and were often overly reliant on silly names or half baked fourth wall breaking references. Ultimately, when the twist pay-off of the purpose of Surname’s inane work placements arrives, it is all a little underwhelming.
Individual sketches are very entertaining and the performance/writing team is undoubtedly talented but This Isn’t Working, doesn’t quite cohere. A tighter structure or indeed no structure at all would have better served the absurd talents of FaceOddity.
