Review by Steve Bennett

Greg Haiste and Marie Lawrence are almost preternaturally happy. If the festival’s taken its toll, they don’t show it, performing their entire hour smiling and japing, bounding around the room with Tiggerish energy.

It is their enthusiasm that drives this show, which should, on paper, be terrible The comedy largely involves cheesy jokes and Carry On euphemisms (just look at that title), the premise is unpromising (a wannabe is given tips on cracking the music scene), and the performances are decidedly one-note. If you couldn’t see the parka, you would be hard-pressed to see the difference between Haiste playing Prince William and him playing Liam Gallagher, whose enthusiastic posh-by voice is explained away by assuming the musician only puts on a Mancunian accent for career purposes.

There’s never any change in pitch between characters or scenes, and a slightly smug, ‘hoorah! Such fun!’ atmosphere hangs over the entire show. But Haiste and Lawrence don’t seem to be faking it, and that sincerity wins out. If they are enjoying it, so should we.

Their theme is that the winsome Lawrence, in sweet Dorothy from Wizard Of Oz dress and an impish sparkle in her eyes, is taking careers advice from Gallagher. Quite how they shoehorned Wills and Kate into this is a riddle. But it all bundles along nicely, lightweight frippery done with a bit of style.

You’ll spot some old jokes in here, and the pair enjoy nothing more than a rude-sounding malapropism. A couple of running jokes about Haiste’s bald patch and the sleazy music industry bigwig whose name sounds like ‘paedo’ are overused. Bu the looseness of the structure knows you’re never quite sure what will happen next, and there are at least a couple of surprising interludes.

But Haiste and, especially, Lawrence are better than their material, having more than enough zest to keep these spiffing capers on track.

Review date: 29 Aug 2011
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett