Review by Julia Chamberlain

This is one of those shows that starts in the foyer, as you are greeted by a chipper Mountie (Drew McCreadie); how else do you establish ‘Canada’ swiftly in the British consciousness?

An excellent piece, this is everything you’d hope for from good sketch: fast moving, recurring characters, a showcase for versatility, interspersed with short films and animations.

A short, gently mocking history of Canada, where each major city is represented by igloos, sets up the preferred local stereotypes where the US ‘is our bitch’ the French are unhygienic and Newfoundlanders are the dumb poor relation, but gives context and makes the show stronger for not being the constant frame of reference.

The weakest sketch of the night is dispensed with upfront, with two shouty bank robbers making great play of the phrase ‘put it down’, but even while the script is a bit laboured for these short minutes, the physical skills are proven while the pair of them (Chris Casilian and Ian Boothby) tear around a handkerchief sized stage.

Diana Frances, a bit underused, makes an excellent 11-year-old, struggling with inappropriate words in a spelling bee, a prospective girlfriend, an irritable carer and an animatedly vacuous talk show host, among others.

A nice little improvised segment, almost a taster for their other show, Canadian Improv Jam, manages not to make the selected audience member self combust with embarrassment but is fresh, fast and funny - and succeeds in making sure it’s the audience who are having a good time rather than the performers grandstanding to each other.

There are dark ideas, but presented with a light touch. In another genre a sex offender on a Blind Date would take us to drama and horror, but here the recurring character simply adds a dash of sharpness to the froth. Similarly the personal development guru devoid of empathy exposes the brainwashing trickery and bullying of such overhyped training seminars.

Also the film and animation segments carry some of the more surreal ideas a curse-off between Dracula and Wolf Man, voyeuristic animals, a horse keeping a diary. In the main these are short enough to pique the interest and are over before the idea collapses under it’s own weight.

This is splendid ensemble work among the five actor/writers, no weak links and apparently no big ego jostling for the pole position. Confined to the tiny downstairs theatre at Leicester Square this show fizzes along and is with its early time-slot is an excellent post-work pick-me-up.

Review date: 5 Aug 2009
Reviewed by: Julia Chamberlain
Reviewed at: Leicester Square Theatre