THE VEGEMITE TALES till 25 August

Edinburgh Fringe

THE VEGEMITE TALES

Itchy Feet Theatre Company at Pleasance Dome 1 To 25 August 2003 except 19 August
8.10pm
Runs 1hr 30min No interval

TICKETS: 0131 556 6550
Review: Timothy Ramsden 5 August

Good time to be had by all in slip-down-easy comedy.
Already a success on London's Fringe, apparently, this popular show looks to be as well-liked in Edinburgh. It's easy to take to this picture of contrasting Aussies holed-up in London, flat-sharing and irritating or supporting each other in the search for love and a good job in the media.

If it sounds like sitcom, it often is this isn't a show to challenge audiences. It gives them what they expect with an easy, well-performed wit. But, being Australian it's not merely sitcom. No, there are elements of soap about it too. The worked-up dilemmas of relationships, the easy undercutting of situations, belong as easily in either genre.

The confident, the self-doubting; the ambitious, the slacker combine in a series of short scenes, with just a couple of outsiders. These are an Italian interloper of eternally sublime self-obsession and a brief portrait of a Tory Sloane, which might be a tribute from round the world to British audiences' ability to enjoy antipodean stereotypes.

This is played up too in the Northern Hemisphere's inability to distinguish Australian from New Zealander. Like, says one character, not being able to tell English from Scottish.

An undemanding, slickly-performed, stroke-the-funny-bone 90 minutes, .The Vegemite Tales is good fun, performed by a skilful team who continually play off each other's personalities. It all makes for a good night out watching their rocky nights in.

Cast and credits not available.

2003-08-13 09:29:41