The Great Brain Robbery |
Published on Wednesday, 24 August 2011 | |||||
The Great Brain Robbery, aside from a neatly punning title, also have a neat line in audience engagement. You may well have encountered them through your social media outlet of choice, but they also do it the old fashioned way – leaving stamped addressed postcards on the chairs and inviting the crowd to get in touch afterwards. They seem like a fun crowd to be pen-pals with. The four-guys, one-girl lineup – making their Edinburgh debut – run through a series of well-honed sketches which demonstrate a wit and intelligence that should make them Fringe favourites. They're also not afraid of mixing in the odd crude punchline. Some of these misfire – a throwaway remark about incest, for example – but others work gloriously. The vision of a semi-naked pudgy bald man, with a belt round his neck and a vial of poppers up his nose, is one that will haunt my dreams. As that might suggest, their sketches tend to be prop-heavy, in contrast with the current fashion for pared-back staging. On arrival, the stage is strewn with wigs, seats, telephones and other apparatus; as these are used and dispensed with, they are chucked into a waiting suitcase in what may be a clever deconstructionist device. But it does mean that while it's all in the process of being deconstructed, there is a lot of lights-down shuffling of chairs and donning of hairpieces, which noticeably slows the pace and stifles the atmosphere. I hope that as they grow into their short run, they will be able to keep the energy flowing between scenes a bit better. Don't get me wrong – the energy is there, and this is an enjoyable afternoon of sketches and songs. Will The Great Brain Robbery be a Fringe sketch group to watch out for in years to come? Answers on a postcard, please. |
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FROM OUR ARCHIVES
These are archived reviews of shows from the Edinburgh Fringe 2011. We keep our archives online as a courtesy to those we've featured, and for readers who'd like to research previous years' reviews.