Franks and Skinner Present: MindfulMess

• Brian Donaldson
• 17 August 2017

This article is from 2017.

Chaos and daftness are order of the day in this duo's morning set

In a show that could (with a tweak or two) safely be accommodated in the children's section of the Fringe programme, our hyperactive and uber-expressive duo initially welcome us into their venue with the offer of tea or coffee. It's a homely start to a show that buzzes with comedic energy and which hits as many targets as it misses by miles.

A double act in the purest of terms (in that there's barely anything to differentiate between the pair), Lizzie Franks and Nerine Skinner offer nothing in the way of a narrative power struggle or one of them holding back the other's artistic dreams etc. They simply want to provide as much unalloyed fun as possible.

And so, making their way slowly to their stage as monks, they unleash a torrent of routines with a (very) loose theme of living in the moment attempting to tie it all together. From there, they transform into manic flamenco dancers (who work in some disco and yoga), ginger Greek warriors and, in arguably their most enjoyably silly routine, the honest vampires. A chaotically harmless and wilfully daft start to anyone's show-seeing day.

Just the Tonic at The Tron, until 19 Aug, 11am, £5–£6 or Pay What You Want.