Giants: For an Hour

• Brian Donaldson
• 6 August 2017

This article is from 2017.

Big sketch laughs from a familiar double act power play

Entering their small stage with a high energy that threatens to blow the roof off the place, Norwegian musical duo Fjord are here to show exactly why they came second in Eurovision. Except, of course, 'bad boys' Lars and Ulrik do not really exist. Not only are they the main characters in this new show by Giants (aka Will Hislop and Barney Fishwick), they represent the key trigger behind the hour's narrative.

Pals since boyhood, the pair invented Fjord at school but while Will needs that band to continue in order to feel whole in the world and connected to his mate, Barney longs to ditch this childish crutch so he can break free and properly pursue his acting career (he certainly possesses the limbs to wield a particularly impressive swan dive).

This double-act game in which one person is seemingly holding back the ambitions of the other can be traced back to, at the very least, Morecambe and Wise, while in Fringe terms, The Pin had a very similar conceit propelling their 2013 show. The overly familiar power-play meta-narrative does bubble away nicely though and produces some big laughs. And there's extra kudos for surely the finest referencing this Fringe of the PM's 'fields of wheat' calamity.

Pleasance Courtyard, until 27 Aug (not 14), 4.30pm, £9–£11 (£8–£10).