Despite the Festival-advertised start time of 10pm, they take a more laissez-faire attitude to cabaret at the Wynford. More of a, 'well, it'll start when the performers are ready' kind of scheduling. In the end, the show went up an hour later at 11pm.

Sweet FA is a drag act duo of Paul Coombes as Amber Dextrous and Trevor Jones Griffiths as Fanny Dazzle, a slightly mismatched pair who hail from Cardiff. Positioned in an awkward corner of the bar, the chatter from the rest of the pub doesn't seem to phase the acts. They seem quite used to working in difficult situations.

Their set is a mixture of song, audience humiliation and bitchy banter - mostly directed at each other. After a while, the catty remarks start to get a bit tired, and the unstructured nature of their show means often going down blind alleys, where the only thing they can say is to insult each other. Their vocal talents aren't too bad though, and a positive point for a pub drag act is that they sing everything live rather than resort to mime.

Just half an hour into the show, they announce their final number, 'Tiger Feet'. It's their false tabs, but it takes them a further 20 minutes to get out the encore, 'Lady is a Tramp', punctuated by bad jokes and impressions. At times it felt embarrassing, although underneath it all there seems to be raw talent that simply lacks direction.

Perhaps this duo have missed a trick. Their singing and comedy could be combined. Ditch the torch songs, add structure to the dialogue and start singing comedy numbers, with less of the bitchy ad-libs. This could really pull the act together and give them fewer opportunities to ramble.

To be honest, though, it's a bit irrelevant to include this show as part of the Reading Comedy Festival. It was clear the performers had no idea that the Festival was happening around them, and it felt a bit like programme padding using a regular pub cabaret slot.

Cast Credits: Written and performed by (alpha order): Paul Coombes - Amber Dextrous. Trevor Jones Griffiths - Fanny Dazzle.

Company Credits: Sound - DJ Brendy

END

(c) Pete Shaw 2007

reviewed Tuesday 9 October 07 / Wynford Arms, Reading

Fringe Report's Reading Comedy Festival 07 coverage is organised and edited by Gill Smith.

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008