Croft and Pearce: There's Always Something

• Henry Northmore
• 19 August 2015

This article is from 2015.

Well-written whimsy in a safe sketch set

Croft and Pearce are back for their fifth year on the Fringe with more silly sketches and absurd characters from infatuated teachers to a useless work experience. Hannah Croft and Fiona Pearce have been mates since school and there's a real chemistry that binds their show together. While it’s all a bit twee, middle-class and jolly hockey sticks (apart from a delightfully foul-mouthed Brownie troop leader), that doesn't stop it being funny and, at times, wonderfully inventive.

An early high is the ridiculous casting call for a new Sky 1 period drama starring a bloated, jet skiing John Travolta. It's a nice touch that many of the characters are interlinked (for example a suicidal middle-aged woman from one sketch turns out to be the mother of nice-but-dim Toothy Dan in another) and it helps create a fully realised world, dragging you deeper into their comic creations.

There are no real costume changes to speak of but Croft and Pearce skilfully morph into each character with shifts in their physicality and mannerisms. Perhaps a bit safe and clean, but if you're in search of a well-written and brilliantly acted hour of whimsy, Croft and Pearce are the perfect fit.

Gilded Balloon, 622 6552, until 30 Aug, 5.45pm, £10 (£8).