The Oxford Revue

at The OFS 'til Saturday 11th

The Oxford Revue, currently at the O.F.S.) is good. Really good. It's also really rude. The cornucopia of delights includes all the fun of the fair (cuddly toys, bubbles and REAL onions), a mad King, the disembodied voice of the BBC, a slide show, psychotic northeners, a quite normal Welshman (and also a very strange one)...hey, there's even singing. About paper.

The surrealism is hilarious, and at times, quite incomprehensible. The satire is so biting that it hurts, and you don't know whether to giggle nervously or shout in disgust...and as for the rudeness, well, it's quite rude. In fact, it would be fair to say that the whole extravaganza may lean a little too far towards the amusing public schoolery of jokes about homosexuals, promiscous women and large penises; at times it does become a tad wearing. In combination with the fact that the one female of the five comedy players is somewhat underused considering how obviously good she is (plus the dubious nature of most of her roles), this perhaps becomes a little suspect.

But then, it's not only feminists that would have something to shout about: being p.c. or "tasteful" is not a concern here. This sets out to shock, and succeeds. All manner of familiar stereotypes (see above Welshman) are surrealised heavily, but to the extent that their origins often remain uncomfortably discernible. Deaf old Aunty Pat may be a dalek, but that doesn't make it any less poignant that she is old, lonely and confused, and wants her visitors to stay longer than five minutes.

Poor old Aunty Pat, she doesn't know this is impossible due to the length of the sketches. The pace at which these move along may not have been racing by the end of the show, which made several of the less belly-laugh-invoking ideas drag a bit, but I suspect this will improve as the actors' energy levels pick up in the face of larger audiences. Each piece glides fairly effortlessly into the other like a seagull in the wind, however - none of this staggering about in the dark wasting time malarky. And, to be fair, the energy required by this performance is so great that it is hardly surprising if people sag a little towards the end.

Nevertheless, this is a miniscule deviation from the generally extremely high quality of the performance, and, lastly but mostly, the performing. These kids are good - really, really good. See them here - now - before you have to pay much more to do so.

Susanna Jordan