Show Rating:

Watson and Oliver are an intriguing new double act ­ good
actors with interesting ideas and an appealing chemistry ­
who have a great Edinburgh show in them. Unfortunately, this
isn't quite it, but the signs are promising.

Their debut is a fairly straightforward sketch offering, with
Lorna and Ingrid occasionally breaking out of character to bicker
between themselves. Very French and Saunders.

The pace is too sluggish, with ideas and scenarios that lose
your attention well before the end of each scene, but the comedy
is skilfully executed with well-judged performances and a few
twists in the tales.

Their opening sketch is one of their strongest; a police procedural
in which a tight-lipped witness is being grilled. You're never
quite sure where it's heading, and the pair wrongfoot the audience
at least twice, to great effect.

Other nice ideas is about someone with a phobia of words with
a double L in them, which could almost have come from Ronnie
Barker's back catalogue, and a coy, Jane-Austen style flirtation
between a blind artist and a buttoned-down suitor. The acting's
so good I feared 'blind' Lorna would bump into a chair.

On the other hand, a Californian performance arts coach seems
overfamiliar, and sketches that rely on tedious repetition are
never going to be thrilling.

The girls also overestimate the hilarity of silly dancing,
doing two Michael Jackson numbers in their entirety, which does
mean you disappear into the afternoon with an upbeat song in
your head, but it's a one-joke trick.

Yet for the show's flaws, there is something very appealing
about Watson and Oliver, perhaps more as themselves than as characters,
so they might yet be a double act to watch.

Steve Bennett