Show Rating:

It is now an archetypal Edinburgh Fringe show: an educated middle-class man takes on a pointless quest, then invests a disproportionate amount of time, energy and emotion into feeding this all-conquering obsession.

Owen Powell’s odyssey is one of the less involving ones. All he need do is plot the branches of Starbucks on a map, visit those that appear closest and pace out the exact distance until he finds a winner. There’s not really that much ceremony nor narrative to it.

While others – including King of the genre Dave Gorman - have used these self-imposed tasks to hide a subtext revealing a deeper story, Powell’s pretty much is all about doing what it says in the title.

In fact, it’s remarkable for what it isn’t. This is no polemic on globalisation or the uniformity of High Streets, although he can’t help but make a few oblique references to this. And there is a reading list for those interested. Powell doesn’t even have an opinion on their coffee, being a tea-drinker himself. The irony isn’t lost.

Instead he presents his research as driven entirely by genuine curiosity, but proving nothing.

Despite the vacuity of the premise and the rather cynical exploitation of the now-established adventure format, Powell – a Fringe comedy director of some note - does put together a solid, well-structured show with its fair share of decent laughs.

Yes, at times it looks like a sales conference, with a man standing in front of a PowerPoint presentation of pie charts, financial figures or bullet points, but there are enough subversions of the format, self-deprecating quips and wry asides to keep thing bouncing along at a decent pace, while sustaining an engaging energy.

The show is placed about as firmly in the middle of three-star territory as it is possible to be: an enjoyable hour, well put-together and well-told, but with no great ambitions beyond that.

Reviewed by: Steve Bennett