Centring around the lives of four individuals within a fictional village, the fact that the premise of the show was built around a made-up comedy charity festival instantly made the performance an extremely self-aware one. With it being explained early on that one of the four had previously participated in an amateur dramatics group, the many instances of obvious gags were made hilarious by the troupe's impressive use of comic timing as well as their knowing expressions and asides to the audience.
The variety of comic techniques used within the plethora of sketches meant that there's something for everyone in this show.
Add into this their pool of popular cultural references from across the twentieth century to present day, the societal and technological changes shown over this time period continuously juxtaposed comically the general behaviours of people then and now.
Awkward though many of the comic interactions were, the four's early establishment of their village characters' ill-fated attempts at comedy within the festival gave them a free pass to break out of character every now and then. This could only be done, however, by the quartet making the audience feel at ease from the off. That this was the case proved extremely evident with their reliance on the inclusion of a member within one of their sketches making it just one of many of the highly humorous skits throughout.
Ultimately, like the adjective used to describe the pairings of this comedy troupe, the variety of comic techniques used within the plethora of sketches meant that there's something for everyone in this show.
Having previously established themselves on Radio 4, Mixed Doubles – which comprises the performers Will Close, Megan Smith, Paul Aitchison and Rose Robinson along with the director Hannah Jones – are destined to increase their popularity. Having performed at the Edinburgh and Adelaide Fringe Festivals in previous years, their return to the former this year means that their successful run can do nothing but continue.
