Review by Marissa Burgess

You have to admit that on paper the concept of Sex Ed: The Musical! doesn't bode well…. but then Woody Allen managed to make a whole 1972 film along those lines that was pretty funny. Sadly this production doesn't hit the spot.

The premise is, as you've probably gathered, a sex education class, delivered largely in song by a quartet of teachers (three Scottish, one not). Barbara is the horny, frustrated and married one; Glenda the innocent one who deals with the pupils' emotional well-being; Bob who despite the name is female; and Agatha the experimental one.

Their pupil guinea pigs are Gladys and Gilbert – both 16, they're not risking getting sued on this one - and their pianist (it sounds a bit like penis) is the perpetually pregnant Hildegard. Together we informatively go through all aspects of anatomy, sexual positions, disease and emotional pitfalls. There are sock puppet sperm, signs velcroed to jumpers and a blow-up strap-on cock. By the end, it's not giving much away to say that 'by the process of theatre' everyone has undergone a transformation and Gladys and Gilbert have got it together. Hildegard meanwhile remains heavily pregnant behind her piano.

The production is presented by an enterprising team made up largely of students from East 15 Acting School who are probably having a great time putting on a show at the Fringe. And good luck to them, but judging this against the rest of the shows at the festival, there's little that has any critical merit.

In essence they cram in as many sexual terms and practices in song into a loose narrative and come out with an overly long 1 hour 15mins. It's pretty Knockabout and the performances are OK, but not spectacular enough to carry the mediocre script,. One performance does grow on you after a while, Bethan Rigby who plays Babs has the makings of a comedy actor.

Overall this has the feeling of the type of gimmick liberal teachers might actually use to present a sex education class to high school students. It's certainly informative and they are pretty thorough; if you're young or a little naïve you might learn something.  They're at their best when really pushing the boat out – throwing in a fisting gag or the routine that suggests different positions the pair can use, but that's as good as it gets, really.

It was evident that some in the crowd enjoyed it, and judging by the feedback tweets on their website they're not the only ones, but it was always going to be an ambitious move pulling off (pardon the pun) a truly great comedy musical about sex education; to do that it has to be a great deal more clever, incisive and inventive than this.

Review date: 17 Aug 2012
Reviewed by: Marissa Burgess
Reviewed at: theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall