Theatre Review: Arguing on Air, C Venues- C viva - cellar, Edinburgh

There’s an interesting tension between the talents of the performers of this Australian radio comedy and their lumpen scenario.
Matthew Tribe and Simon Kaye play off one another as a narcissistic DJ and his put-upon producer.Matthew Tribe and Simon Kaye play off one another as a narcissistic DJ and his put-upon producer.
Matthew Tribe and Simon Kaye play off one another as a narcissistic DJ and his put-upon producer.

Arguing on Air, C Venues- C viva - cellar, Edinburgh * *

Matthew Tribe and Simon Kaye are lightly likeable as the egotistical Outback DJ and his long-suffering producer, but their script is so witless that most laughs come from an improvising member of the audience who’s supposedly filling in for the missing director.

Every scene charting their relationship over the decades goes on far too long and is devoid of funny lines. You sense that they’re aiming for the anarchic energy of the Marx Brothers, but they come off a very poor second to the Chuckle Brothers. Perversely, it’s so monumentally misconceived that it exerts its own grim fascination.

Until 26 August

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