Never before has a kazoo been blown with such gusto; so far so good as the two performers began the show with a confident song. An attempt to encourage the participation of the younger members of the audience fell somewhat flat. It will take more than a kazoo to make any of these children consider doing anything quite so daring as clapping their hands together. The performers were not dissuaded by this and assuredly ploughed on with the story.
‘The Many Mishaps of Mr Vinegar’ follows the misadventures of, as you may have already guessed, Mr Vinegar. After he and his wife are forced from their home in Pickletown by an accident, a chance event sends Mr Vinegar on a quest to buy a cow for his wife. Naturally, things do not go quite as planned and a series of swaps leave Mr Vinegar in a pickle. The story is laced throughout with jokes, puns and exaggerated movements. Not infrequently the wordplay is unappreciated by both child and adult; gaps for laughter are met with silence and the shifting of bums on chairs. However, the slapstick humour struck a more successful chord with the children, with laughs getting more frequent as the show progressed. Such self-assuredness allows a post-lunch journey to Pickletown to be enjoyed, albeit with a few bumps along the way.
