Deploying sketch comedy in its pinnacle form, Pelican, made up of ex-Footlights Guy Emanuel, Sam Grabiner and Jordan Mitchell, have put together a cohesive and hilarious narrative performance that defies full description.
Somehow, whilst laughing hysterically, you feel a persistent desire to know where this wildly unpredictable story will end up.
The unpredictable detective plot is somewhat akin to The Big Lebowski crossed with Scooby Doo. Set into action when two rival TV actors, playing the hilariously terrible lead parts in the sitcom Legal Matter discuss backstage the lead part that Charles Heron has now been offered in a version of Cat Man, and the curse famously known to attach to the role. Very soon, a mad-cap 1970s slap-stick mystery spoof has kicked off, in which Heron, joined by needy solicitor Mark Swift, are tracking down all previous incarnations of Cat Man to get to the bottom of the bizarre catastrophes that have befallen each one of them. Along the way, this takes them through iconic and hilarious scenes in the local Turkish baths, a roller disco run by a baron pushing psychedelics, and an encounter with an incompetent French waiter which offers some of the best audience interaction at the Fringe.
Every scene is itself worthy of note, backed up by great sound and lighting effects, but the Legal Matters scenes themselves are perhaps the standouts, deploying cartoonish caricatures, slapstick madness and dreadful puns to great effect. All three performers have exceptional comic timing. The genius of the show seems to sit in the fact that, somehow, whilst laughing hysterically, you feel a persistent desire to know where this wildly unpredictable story will end up.
