Exeter-based sketch comedy troupe Simply The Jest take another Fringe by storm in this hour-long sketch show, featuring clever parodies, general silliness and one very impressive finale song. The nine-strong group prove that they are true Fringe veterans with this very professional show, which features a great use of multimedia and plenty of awkward audience involvement. These performers are charming but also incredibly brazen, which only adds to the fun.
The intermittent short sketches about potential inappropriate iPhone apps are amusing, and the idea of a parkour environmentalist group is hilarious, but the show is stolen almost entirely by Luke Theobald's solo sketch in which he does an astoundingly accurate impression of Maggie Smith. In fact, it is totally worth seeing this show if only for this sketch alone. This is a group of very talented young performers – wonderfully camp Jack Stanley and hilariously posh Bryony Twydle are both very memorable – but Theobald is in a class of his own.
Some sketches, such as the one based around the fruitless efforts of the North Korean Tourist Board, were incredibly clever and funny, both in their writing and in their performance. Some, on the other hand, were a bit long and drawn-out. The numerous references to sex, prostitution and violence towards women in the sketch designed to be a humorous take on the story of Jack the Ripper could have been an amusing observation of the attitudes of the time, had they not been so overt. However, the majority of sketches performed have the audience in stitches.
A good balance of seriously witty parodies, well-observed physical comedy and just enough nudity to suit everyone's tastes.
