Edinburgh Festival: Cardinal Burns / Dame Diana Rigg: No Turn Unstoned / John Robins - comedy review

Television sketch icons Cardinal Burns strutted onstage as hassidic Jews, while Dame Diana Rigg told each nugget with a garnish of charm, and John Robins delivered his gags skilfully
Masters of surprise: Cardinal Burns
Bruce Dessau26 August 2014

Cardinal Burns, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★✩✩

Dame Diana Rigg: No Turn Unstoned, Assembly Checkpoint ★★★✩✩

John Robins, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★✩

Television sketch icons Cardinal Burns strut onstage as hassidic Jews singing R Kelly’s Bump n’ Grind. It sets the tone nicely. Seb Cardinal and Dustin Demri-Burns are masters of surprise. This is a high point, however, in a show that only partially delivers.

The problem is of their own making. Their distinctive filmic style onscreen is difficult to replicate onstage, so instead they rely on their comic chemistry, which is not quite enough.

It did not help that their best creations, such as Banksy and the Office Flirts, were absent. The rest felt a little samey.

Their David Brent-ish mates, their ghosthunters Jason and Phil and their French alter egos started to blur together.

There is one brilliant coup de theatre that hints at their capabilities. They come to Soho in September with a longer version, preferably including Banksy and co.

Dame Diana Rigg, recently in Game of Thrones, is back onstage in No Turn Unstoned, a version of her book of savage theatrical notices. That title is so good it is difficult for Rigg’s examples to match it, though US critic Walter Kerr’s verdict on I Am A Camera, “Me No Leica”, comes close.

Rigg’s genial history of theatre goes from Greece’s Thespis to Richard Briers’s Hamlet being described as a “demented typewriter”. Each nugget is told with a garnish of charm.

While plenty of bad actors are shamed, fewer critics are named, though former Evening Standard scribe Nicholas De Jongh is singled out for suggesting that Rigg lacked passion. She recalls being so angry there was plenty of passion after reading it. This will hopefully come to London, where there are enough theatre lovers and Game of Thrones fans for it to run and run.

Some shows would be grateful for bad reviews rather than no reviews. John Robins has had social media buzz but little attention from critics. Yet Robins’s latest hour is one of the best unflashy sets here. His skilfully delivered gags are all the fireworks he needs.

His theme is love and there is an added frisson for anyone aware that his partner is comic Sara Pascoe. Robins also delivers a satirical swipe at “millionaire underdog” Stewart Lee, both wildly exaggerated and hilarious. Someone should launch a “One That Got Away Award” just for Robins.

Until Aug 23 (0131 226 0000, edfringe.com). Cardinal Burns is at Soho Theatre, W1, Sept 8-20 (020 7478 0100, sohotheatre.com)

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