A first-class, provocative sketch comedy performed by the trio Bad Bread, full of amusing anecdotes, Glove Contractually kicked off with the Proclaimers’ ‘500 Miles’. This would have been very prosaic and cliché, but instead came across as deeply witty owing to the fact the show is vaguely predicated on the joys and woes of a romcom.
Next on the list were the finals of the Wimbledon Sex Court championships. Novak Djockovic won a thriller on centre bed thanks in part to some powerful ‘serves’ and his improved stamina. Although the audience was thoroughly entertained, dare I say the Duke of Kent and the All England Club would not have been amused. At the halfway point, the trio stopped to serenade showgoers with several imaginative musical adaptations: STI the musical, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody inundated with plenty of situational irony and a retro New Labour song (which aside from its clear educational value is apparently a great way to get a workout).
Then there was an investigative report and subsequent interview with ‘Bips’, the unfortunate victim of a mugging. To protect her anonymity, a capricious actor was hired to tell her tale. Histrionics and melodrama abound and what followed was an absolutely brilliant performance from Tom Gobles. Lighter comic relief was then provided in the form of several funny, Frankie Boyle-esque caricatures and jokes at the expense of Oscar Pistorious and Heath Ledger. The trio capped off the night with a harrowing if not entirely accurate reenactment of the sinking of the Titanic- safe to say it kept the audience guessing till the very end.
What makes this show exceptional is not just its simple capacity for humour, but that it is also the product of an aberrant endowment of originality and an intangible pizazz- entertaining, provocative, unmissable.
