Review by Jay Richardson

A capable pair of sketch performers, Hannah Croft and Fiona Pearce return to the Fringe with a more ambitious hour than their previous offering. Although there's little distinct or remarkable about their competent, amusing skits in isolation, they weave them together in a satisfying tableaux of stultifying, middle-class existence.

At the heart of their various narratives are Dan and Jessica, engaged to be married but perhaps not as deeply in love as they'd like to believe. With a braying overbite and his old-school tie connections, estate agent Dan is good-natured and harmless, played with blokey, spread-leg swagger by Croft, unless in the company of his tightly-wound, Hollywood casting director fianceé, forever finding fault with him. Although it's difficult to believe this bickering pair would ever have got together, and they're among the least memorable of their characters, with Jessica especially, expressing little but impatience and frustration, their tangential links to the duo's other creations gradually emerge.

Prominent among these are a couple of middle-aged, WI-types driven to melodramatic distraction by various crises at the village fête, entertaining thoughts of suicide but always dragging each other back from the brink. Their shrillness is in stark contrast to Dylan, a melancholic, rather stereotypical Welsh toilet cleaner cursed with an enormous penis, over-sharing his loneliness with whoever he chances upon in the bathroom.

Another working-class type is Pearce's over zealous Brown Owl, an upstart, ingratiating and aggressive Geordie imparting dubious messages about bullying to her Brownies. Elsewhere, an office 9-5 'lifer', her dreams long extinguished, is plagued by a peppy work experience teenager and a sarcastic, pedantic IT support nerd.

Unfolding their scenarios slowly, with performances that showcase their versatility, the episodic nature of the narratives allows Croft & Pearce to get away without strong punchlines. Often, the joke is established within the first 30 seconds and then simply reinforced over and over, although there's enjoyment in seeing how far they'll take it – the passive-aggressive IT nerd meeting their match and perhaps a soulmate; a female newsreader and weathergirl failing to maintain professionalism as they seethe will ill-disguised, back-and-forth hatred; an audition in which an actress is asked to undergo increasingly bizarre physical and emotional contortions for a schlocky science-fiction movie, similar to, but less inspired than Cardinal Burns' advert castings.

Very little sets Croft & Pearce apart from the great swathe of similar sketch acts on the Fringe. But they're telegenic and work well together, so may well go on to better things than this decent, undemanding hour.

Review date: 24 Aug 2013
Reviewed by: Jay Richardson