Comedy review: Joy of Politics

Published on Tuesday 9 February 2010 18:04

JOY OF POLITICS * BRUNTON THEATRE, EDINBURGH

WHEN you imagine the best political comedy, you might think of edgy commentary, devastating lampoons of pomposity and sharp satire of public figures. Unfortunately, none of that is present in this latest "parli-mental" show from The Black Sheep duo of Andrew Jones and Ciaran Murtagh.

Instead, we get cack-handed impersonations of Thatcher (oh, topical) and Churchill (yes, really), blisteringly inane observations – some MPs might be a little bit crooked and the tabloids don't cover news stories terribly seriously – and ill-considered wielding of technology involving screens so small that, although you can certainly hear Gordon Brown's voice, they might as well be showing footage of Ozzy Osbourne for all the clarity they provide. There's even a glaring error chucked in when they wrongly attribute the legend of 1915's Christmas Day truce, when German and British soldiers fooled around in No Man's Land, to the Second World War.

The pair have a solid record of comedy-theatre behind them and perhaps their innate daftness should see them sticking to kids entertainment (Murtagh certainly has a playful talent for origami).

Judging by some early reviews of this show, which began its tour last year, it appears that the pair (alongside director Cal McCrystal) have ditched a fair whack of their set and opted to replace it with material that might actually be even poorer.

The fact that the show's highlight is the improvised hunt for a missing marker pen which delays their less than hilarious "political cartoon" bit just about says it all.