It’s surprising to find Hit Comet in the Comedy section of the Fringe Guide as the heartfelt friendship at the core of the piece is far more successful than some of the comic elements. Exploring the choice in life between selling out and artistic integrity, Hit Comet is, unsurprisingly, a piece of student writing. In the most part, however, the script is assuring in its maturity.As creator of the script, Joe Sherwen may have made himself director and cast himself in the production but the writing’s intelligence is largely down to its lack of self-indulgence. Sherwen writes for his actors and his performance space and it is the authenticity of the piece that reigns as a result. Briefly speaking to some of the cast afterwards, Sherwen really seems to have captured the essence of their speech and movement. This is not to undermine the performance of the central duo. Will Green and Ed Sheridan have clearly brought a great deal to their roles, executing lines with perfect comic timing, even in places where the wit isn’t as sharp as it could be.The central duo of slightly neurotic straight-men is a masterclass in observational comedy. Casual humour emerges from the forces between characters; a test of one’s creative ability exposes a blush of insecurity expressed through a sharp chord of frustration.Clearly these characters need caricatures to play off but the moments of exaggerated comedy seem at odds with the central relationship. Characters like the absurdly stupid office intern, Cherry, can feel forced, as if the show is selling out to satisfy the popularity of easy comedy at the Fringe. Hit Comet doesn’t need this: it has enough artistic integrity to support itself on subtler humour.
