Last year I regretted not taking my junior reviewers to see the Three Half Pints. This year the trio of Robin Hatcher, Callum Donnelly and Richard Franks (plus silent sidekick Emily Moffat) are back at the Fringe, this time at an easily accessible central location with enough space to complement their slick physicality. The sketches are the same as last year with some new bits in between, but this time I was experiencing the show with my sons/juniour reviewers, age 12 and 9. Seeing it through their eyes gave it a whole new perspective.
Just so parents are warned, the Three Half Pint characters are called Ernie, Derek and Dick. Being very much in the tradition of British post-war comedy (Derek & Clive, Monty Python, and Carry On, with a nod of respect to American pratfall genius, Harold Lloyd) their style of comedy is such that there is a lot of innuendo on the name Dick as well as some similar but ornithological-themed word-play later. Fortunately, this is as rude as it gets; there are no profanities, but you may need to avert your eyes at the Speedo/socks combination for its pure icky-factor. However, both boys giggled at every single Dick-joke and at the literal word-play that the show thrives on: Derek says to Dick, “Can I have a quiet word?” and Dick replies, “Whisper.”
Once again, their slapstick was beautifully executed much to my boys’ delight. Since last year’s show Richard Franks must have been to some sort of facial gymnasium; his face is an absolute treasure of perma-worried expression and elastic perfection.The asides to the audience were easy, confident and included the audience in any mistakes; we were all part of the fun. Particularly one female member of the audience who got to ‘date’ all three Half Pints.
The show closed to lots of whoops from a happy audience, particularly my two. Juniour reviewer aged 12 said, “Your cheek-bones hurt from smiling so much; they are skillful at making everybody laugh. Good value - a ton of fun in fifty minutes.” Juniour reviewer aged 9 said, “You will leave wanting more of them,” and “extremely funny,” and “really good show” and “can we go again next year?” I hope so.
