Vinegar Knickers

Sketchy just about sums this show up. Despite high-energy, enthusiastic performances from Samantha Baines, Katie Burnetts and Harriet Fisher, like a cheap chicken Caesar salad the meaty bits are too few and far between, and the ‘lettuce’ material is excessive enough to give the whole thing a limp and tedious feel.

The routines seesaw from protracted, predictable Catherine Tate-esque teen caricatures to more unexpected, innovative sketches, including a notably well-acted sketch about Adolf Hitler’s unlikely old flame, where Burnetts marks herself out as the star of the show. Her performance is consistently strong and convincing, with the most flexible repertoire of dramatic personae.

They’re certainly a genuinely likeable trio, which makes the abundance of average jokes and gag-worthy London chav impersonations very frustrating, and their refreshingly unpretentious stage presence lends itself well to the sketch-genre. Plus, the snippets of pleasant vocals suggest the ladies could sift away the bog-standard ‘ginger jokes’ and flesh out the less-hackneyed characterisation. There are certainly worse ways to spend an hour, but until this show sharpens its edges, perhaps spend your cash on a fancy Caesar salad instead.

C soco, 0845 260 1234, until 29 Aug (not 15), 4.35pm, £7.50–£9.50 (£6.50–£8.50).