Review by Steve Bennett

It’s May 1969 in the village of Lower Birchley. But this sleepy community is not all it seems for, in a secret installation, scientists are working away at the UK space programme. Their aim, to put a British foot on the Moon before the Americans. Thus the scene is set for another energetic B-movie-inspired romp by the hugely talented Beta Males.

The preposterous potboiler, involving a plot part-borrowed from Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers, allows the slick quartet to romp through a range of ideas, from a 007 pastiche featuring a Bond who wants love, not commitment-free sex, to a skit vaguely parodying the sexism of Mad Men. Chuck in a load of prop, verbal and visual gags and the job’s a good ’un.

The presentation of this is faultless. The four – John Henry Falle, Jon Gracey, Guy Kelly and Richard Soames – are all accomplished sketch actors who play their various caricatures with commitment and wit. They are great physical comics, too – their movements when inhabited by alien spirits being the funniest of funny walks.

Attention to detail extends from the smallest sound effect to the stylishly low-budget filmettes that punctuate the scenes. There are some sparkling lines in the script, too – a delightful analogy here, or a pithy pun there.

Yet somehow this doesn’t quite hang together as well as their hilarious 2011 show The Train Job. There are a few scenes that don’t quite work. For example, two entirely separate ones about sending animals into space – angry apes and cats and dogs – play out too long; while the deliberately shlocky narrative, fun as it is, just doesn’t engage quite as much as it could.

The result is a show that could so easily be out of this world, but doesn’t quite a achieve a clean lift-off, despite a number of hilarious scenes and four stand-out performances.

Review date: 12 Aug 2012
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Pleasance Courtyard