'A high quality all-female sketch group... a big future' claims the Boom Jennies poster. It may be right, but then doesn't every promo poster for every Fringe artist make the same claim? You're never urged you to 'catch them now before they're performing in a bus stop to a couple of comatose drunks'. Exactly how big are these stars-in-waiting set to become? There's only way to find out, it would appear.The Boom Jennies take to the stage, although there is no stage - just a dirty wooden floor that's about to get a whole lot dirtier. The trio's opening sketch involves a newly dumped ex being consoled by her mates. One brushes her teeth, the other nurses a drink while their single companion weeps eyeliner. The Cola-sipping best friend extends her sympathies. Shortly, it will be time for the other comforter to offer her condolences. Only she can't speak because her mouth is full of toothpaste. Where on earth can that ball of Colgate be jettisoned? Why into the drink of course. Which is then downed. Sometimes the best jokes are the most obvious ones.For the next 50 minutes, the BJs spit, swallow and smear their way through a series of zany sketches that encompass office humour, failed relationships and the pitfalls of becoming pen pals. Occasionally they are hilarious; at other times bathetic. Promising sketches are concluded by superfluous punchlines, when the audience had long since gotten the joke. Sometimes the worst jokes are the most obvious ones.Just when it all threatens to go a bit school talent show however, the BJs pull it back from the brink. Their final act is reminiscent of the final day of a music festival, the tipping point when you ponder whether to wring out your socks and soldier on or strip off and dive face-first into the mud. The Boom Jennies embrace the chaos. They embrace everything, from props to unsuspecting audience members. They molest sandwiches. They make a mess of themselves. They have a damn good time. It's a rousing finale to what had, up until now, been a reasonable show.Amidst all the errant mayonnaise and clunking punchlines, there's a lot of talent trying to get out. The poster was right then: The Boom Jennies - ones for the future.
