Review by Marissa Burgess

Having gone to live in the sleepy Cambridgeshire village of Meldreth, New Art Club's Tom Roden inadvertently exacerbates the rivalry between his village and its twin Melbourn just across the wood - where a wizard may or not live. Or he could be a badger.

The arrival of Pete Shenton from Leicester only serves to make matters worse, especially for an injured bullfinch.

Sound nonsensical? Welcome to New Art Club's world. Their latest piece, this imaginary romp through the English countryside, follows in the tradition of their acclaimed 2009 show This Is Now; a homage to 1983 and the first Now That's What I Call Music compilation album. With backgrounds as dancers, forming New Art Club in 2001 enabled the pair to branch out of dance to combine choreography, physical theatre and comedy, making for a unique experience.

If you're allergic to any kind of audience interaction then you might be advised to stay away but it's not as tortuous as it may sound, most of it is safely en masse and, you tend to get drawn into it anyway.

When they pluck a volunteer out of the crowd the most you'll be asked to do is guess the colour of their pants, catch an egg in a bowl or put your hand in a toaster. Once they've warmed us up with a few of these, when you do see a pancake appear on stage you do feel compelled to run towards it and grab it as per Pete's suggestion.

The pair tell their tale in an 'overblown and pompous manner' about Melbourn's inherent jealousy of Meldreth because of its railway station. Passages of the narrative are related to the musical backdrop of thudding dance music, heavy metal and a more tinkly melody for Tom’s tale of a First World War soldier. They need their own soundtrack to drown out a cappella group The Magnets who are, as Pete points out raising an eyebrow, playing loudly in the Spiegeltent next door. But Pete and Tom's asides about the Magnets' sound bleeding through the tent’s plywood walls only adds to the anarchic fun of the show.

The duo's dynamic works well with just a touch of the antagonism favoured by many double acts; Pete's fiddling with the volume of the musical backing to Tom's serious monologue is a simple gag but very effectively done. Parallels to Morecambe and Wise have already been made, and indeed inspire some of the material here. but there's a fair old dollop of Vic and Bob in there too.

Definitely one to catch this fringe.

Review date: 19 Aug 2011
Reviewed by: Marissa Burgess