Cheese-Badger and Other Stories starts promisingly. Two bespectacled, neatly-costumed and bow-tied men (Frank Paul and Tom Ovens) bound onto a bare stage in basic lighting, augmented by a lone candle in a tasteful tea-light holder. To the accompaniment of a balalaika, they perform a rousingly off-key ballad, setting the scene for the life-story of mysterious Sir Henry Cheese-Badger. Lyrics are silly, voices mellifluent, poses pompous - and the set-up intriguingly surreal.

If it continued in this inspired silliness, the show might be enjoyably engaging and daft. Unfortunately, over the course of some 20-odd sketches, songs and monologues, only 4 or so actually follow the Sir Henry Cheese-Badger adventures. Presumably there wasn't enough material for an hour of Sir Henry and, to be fair, 'Other Stories' are included in the title. But instead of continuing in the cod-Edwardian, almost music-hall vein of the Sir Henry episodes, they intersperse them with a series of weaker - and occasionally frankly lame - sketches and monologues.

There are inspired flashes. A sketch about a doctor who masquerades as The Leg Fairy is very effective in parts. A football commentator insisting that players are winning matches by building conservatories is surreally engaging. Song lyics, and in particular a poem about a crazed bird-watcher, are generally clever and funny. There's also some genuine musical talent on show from both performers – although the off-key singing does get wearing.

Too often the performers either allow ideas to fade away or try to keep them going long after they've passed time. A neat sketch where a character belts out the first few lines of Ain't No Sunshine (When She's Gone) and follows with a deadpan 'And that’s the weather for today', flattens when it carries on for several redundant minutes. The performer might have been better to take his cue from the lighting operator, who mistakenly brought down the lights at the first punchline. A series of sketches about a re-imagining of The Sound of Music in wimples and excruciating falsettos verges on embarrassing. Sometimes the writing is just plain lazy: a sketch about free hugs, which starts out rather brilliantly, plumbs the tired depths of a joke about leprosy being contagious. The act could get a lot better if it concentrated on and honed what the performers do well - that's not so at present. Ironically, one of the sketches is about acts claiming that a review had said 'Fathomless genius, a triumph of theatre'. If only, gentlemen, if only.

Cast Credits: (alpha order): Tom Ovens. Frank Paul.

Company Credits: Writer - Tom Ovens & Frank Paul. Music - Tom Ovens & Frank Paul. Director - Tom Ovens & Frank Paul. Lighting - Ed Rowett, Daisy Bellfield, & special guests. Sound Designer - uncredited. Technical Operator - uncredited. Poster & Flyer Design - Ben Gaastra, Tom Ovens, Frank Paul, Teddy Rose. Artwork - Frank Paul. Costumes - Tom Ovens & Frank Paul. Producer - Kate Poston. Company - Fat Knotmaker. Website - www.cheesebadger.co.uk.

END

(c) Linda Duncan McLaughlin 2009

reviewed Tuesday 11 August 09 / Laughing Horse @ The Hive, Edinburgh UK

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

www.fringereport.com