Sarah Kendell reviews the latest Edinburgh show from seasoned sketch professionals – The Beta Males.
It’s tough being a sketch group at the Fringe. Whilst their stand-up brothers tend to take the lion’s share of the novelty value, with shows about their personal journey getting sober or rolling a wheel of cheese across the breadth of England, the multitude of voices and ideas wrapped up in one sketch show can be hard to sell to an audience. As such, I often wonder how the myriad of new groups emerging every year manage to stand out enough to achieve packed houses and critical acclaim.
The Beta Males however, are one group that have avoided the curse of the average sketch show. A deservedly popular act on the London circuit, their at turns smart and silly offerings often revolve around a compelling narrative. This one takes place in a remote village, where the secretive British space agency have set up a mission to the moon that goes entertainingly awry.
The boys’ experience and success in the genre shows tellingly over some of their less seasoned competitors. Their sketches are tight and neatly tied together by the space concept and they make entertaining use of the multimedia aids available to them. They also read the crowd well, knowing when to stretch a sketch out into something more over-exaggerated and improvisational, and when to reel it back in and get on with the show.
As a result, the atmosphere is enduringly jovial and completely free of awkward sketch-gone-on-too-long moments – in other words, we know we’re dealing with seasoned professionals here.
If there was just one thing I could put my finger on about this show that made it a solid, rather than a downright hilarious effort, it was perhaps that the laughs were just a little too safe. After so many successful Fringe outings, the group obviously knows what plays well and they stick to it – and whilst the result is a slick and sharp product – it’s a little lacking in that glorious unpredictability that makes for a truly stand-out Edinburgh show. For a light and reliable afternoon’s entertainment though, the Beta Males are still a worthwhile investment.
Sarah Kendell
The Beta Males in...The Space Race is at the Pleasance Theatre at 5:45 until the 27th August.
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