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Dutch Elm Conservatoire
Verdict: High-speed intelligent comedy
Dutch Elm Conservatoire stands apart from rival sketch shows in boldly varying the length of its sketches, (writes Ella Lockwood). This not only increases the pace of the overall performance, but also provides constant surprise for the audience.
Each actor has different talents. Stephen Evans has the expression of a truly great character comedian. Jim Field Smith 's speciality is deadpan timing (and natty keyboard playing). Renton Skinner provides his truly odd characters with unexpected authenticity. Rufus Jones can inspire empathy in the most extreme situations. Jordan Long can make a traditionally straight role very funny.
Renton Skinner 's plastic-bag-carrying Alphonso is unexplainably funny. He speaks utter gibberish, but with accusatory confidence. What makes him so surreally amusing is that he's not presented as a simpleton,
An impromptu meeting on the farm, where the animals express fears about modernisation, provides Stephen Evans with the opportunity to present a convincing sheep-dog. He’s a dog whose loyalty to the farmer sets him apart from the rest of the farmyard animals – in a characterisation that’s far more than the scratch of an ear of the licking of a paw.
There are some recurrent themes. People's insensitivity towards one another, especially in times of grief, crops up more than once. During the wake of a young woman, her husband and friends are distracted from her eulogy by delicious mini-pizzas.
A grieving widower’s best friend - only as the pretext to the recovery an old and insignificant debt - reminds a him of happier times with his wife.
An evil and bitter colleague is secretly destroying a happy dustman - who has fulfilled his life's ambition by working for Hackney Borough Disposal.
What makes the Dutch Elm show so enjoyable is not having a singular point of reference for the derivation of the jokes.
They can be enjoyably silly as dancing Matadors, or finding finding humour in a parent's anguish for his sick child and a doctor's incompetence.
A boss dismisses an employee, but shows his appreciation by using a variety of fonts in his redundancy letter. The ridiculousness of Colonel Sanders taking on Little Chef in a territorial contest is funny for funny's sake.
The pace and energy of John Hoggarth's direction produces a high-speed, intelligent and - crucially - very funny show.
Cast Credits Written and performed by (alpha order): Stephen Evans, Rufus Jones, Jordan Long, Renton Skinner, Jim Field Smith.
Company Credits: Director - John Hoggarth.
END
(c) Ella Lockwood 2004
reviewed Wednesday 21 July 04 / The Pleasance / London
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
www.fringereport.com
