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	Underbelly, Cowgate (venue website) Comedy 1-11, 13-25 Aug, 3:40pm-4:40pm Reviewed by Mathilda Gregory
Recommended for age 16+ only.

A burlesque cabaret about life in an office sounds a fun proposition. The ridiculous side of office life continues to provide comic rich pickings, and burlesque works best when there is more to it that pasties and pouting. This absurd character comedy duly delivers nicely on that early promise.

A voice bellows “It’s Monday”, and work begins. A woman in business dress starts her day, quickly locating a colleague who’s sat in the audience watching the show. This lackadaisical attitude to breaking the fourth wall persists throughout. Is it indeed Monday, as the disembodied voice announced, or is it, in fact, Thursday – the day it actually is – as they mention at various points in the show?

And in other ways too, this show really is all over the place. One moment we are seeing a woman demonstrate a remarkable ability to consume crème caramels in one mouthful; then we’re on a trip to France where an audience member is dry humped by both of the cast, and next we’re off on a camel riding epic. It’s quite an experience. There’s also some silly singing, some flashy costume changes and a lesson in conflict resolution.

It’s funny in places. Probably not quite funny enough, often enough, but all pretty enjoyable. The character comedy offers some genuinely striking changes, and I did like the most absurd sexual harassment case ever. But it didn’t add up to anything: story threads were dropped and never returned to, while characters were let hanging.

In spite of that, if you’re happy just to go along for a silly ride – perhaps on a camel – this show offers plenty of fun moments to enjoy.  And the crème caramel trick alone is well worth skipping work for.