REVIEW: THE HALF-COCKED SKETCH SHOW at The Hen and Chickens Theatre 12 - 16 Dec

“We aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel, but we are trying to take the wheel a little off the beaten track.” ★★★ ½

That’s how comedy duo Elliott Campion and Teddy Robson market their show, and it’s an accurate description. Primarily a never-flagging sprint of swirling silliness, The Half-Cocked Sketch Show dips its toes into social critique or, more accurately, is structured around the self-reflection of two white, male, vaguely posh performers wondering out loud what material they’re still allowed to do. “We’re really running out of stories,” one says. “It’s a miracle we’re even here, in front of a paying audience.”

This tongue-in-cheek reflection mostly pops up in the interlude sketches, as Campion and Robson on-stage-pretending-to-be-back-stage performatively bicker about the scenes they’ve done and the scenes they’d better not do after all (Django Unchained? Maybe not, now that there are, you know, actual people watching). There’s potential for more true envelope-pushing here, or for more firmly threading this theme throughout the show as a whole. As it is, the performers’ eagerness to poke fun at themselves, their identities and their marketability as artists added to the charm, and occasionally gave their scenes some bite. What’s the difference between being “a Jew” and “Jew-ish”? Potential cancellation, it turns out.

Campion and Robson check many of the prerequisites for a successful sketch comedy duo: They differ in type and acting vibe enough to tackle a mass of characters, from Hugh Grant to Poirot, while both flying on the same high-octane, dizzyingly paced plane, helped along by loud bursts of music, a rainbow rack of outfits and some flipboards.

They’re developing this show for the Edinburgh Fringe, and the sketches currently vary in writing quality—some polished and streamlined (watch out for the term “linguistically”), others more haphazardly thrown together, with fluff still awaiting the scalpel.

For now, however, Campion and Robson have the charisma and energy to pull off even the uneven bits—the audience was certainly happy to come along for the whole ride.

The Half Cocked Sketch Show

The Hen and Chickens Theatres, Islington

12 – 16 December

Box Office https://www.unrestrictedview.co.uk/the-half-cocked-sketch-show-2/

Writers + Performers: Elliott Campion, Teddy Robson

Reviewed by Anna Clart