★★✰✰✰
Newsrevue has been performing, with a rotating cast, for 43 years: and it shows. Its ropey old-fashioned format and pretentions to topicality become clear in the over-large Pleasance EICC space. Even the extremely talented cast and live pianist can’t cover. Although it offers plenty of sketches and songs, the production fails to offer any that are memorable.
Taking the form of sketch or song followed by a blackout sound—tracked by a chorus of a well-known song on the piano, you know what you’re getting within the first five minutes. Variable, supposedly topical sketches covering news topics from inflation to posh mums to the Tories (mostly the Tories). The show shines when it goes for more obscure topics, such as a quickfire and well-judged inflation gag, or puts an unexpected spin on a familiar topic (an oligarch and ABBA fusion is one of the great successes of the evening).
Otherwise, its news-themed sketches are ironically the weakest part, feeling like Dead Ringers rejects and covering a wide range of styles with little-to-no rhyme or reason. Why is there a Hamilton parody (I use the term parody loosely, as it is literally a song from the show with new lyrics) starring the no longer relevant Chris Whitty rubbing up against the Labour party doing S Club 7?
Some sketches seem to come from an aborted earlier version of the show, or are so vague as to apply to any political event in the past year. It’s a shame, as the writers behind the show can clearly be funny: they just go for a lazy joke and easy laugh too often.
This is not to disparage the cast, whose commitment and talent are undeniable. Edward Bourne, Camille Hainsworth-Staples, Phoebe Coop and Charlie Keable all share excellent comic timing and surprisingly strong voices across the board, and when accompanied by Kieran Stallard’s deft piano skills and hilariously deadpan facial expressions deliver a stonking show.
They frequently elevate the material, as in the too-improbable and not-at-all-rooted-reality Queen and David Attenborough sketch, which as a premise doesn’t work but as a sketch raised laughs purely due to its performances. They are also faced with a too-large stage which makes transitions between sketches overlong. The fact that the performers rescue the comic rhythm after each endless pause is admirable.
NewsRevue is a creaky old beast manned by some of the finest comedy performers at the Fringe. Unfortunately, the fact they are tethered to a reliably poor set of sketches diminishes their shine and makes for a disappointing evening.
Words by Issy Flower
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