2010 Edinburgh Fringe
Lady Garden review
Oh dear. Whilst all-female sketch group Lady Garden clearly have the talent needed to deliver something special, their show this year - titled Top Secret Gig - is a bit of a letdown. The group should be commended for coming up with some really intelligent and unique ideas for their sketches, but it seems that some of the clever concepts have been delivered at the expense of including enough funny lines within them.
It's hard to tell if the six-strong group realise they might have delivered an hour that is a bit light on laughs as, to their credit, despite many of their sketches playing out to near silence in the 80 seater Pleasance Beside, they serve up energetic performances and clearly aim to make their every glance and facial movement count towards the performance.
The show starts very strongly with a funny and super-inventive opening sketch which must have taken quite a lot of organisation indeed. The nature of the joke can't be repeated here as the surprise would be spoiled but, suffice to say, it reveals the strong creativity fizzing behind the group. Unfortunately things quickly go downhill from this opener though. Many of the subsequent sketches either end with a weak punchline or feature nuanced dialogue which just fades into the blackout, leaving the audience bemused rather than amused.
There really is a huge wealth of ideas behind this show - for example, one set of sketches make use of a mini remote controlled helicopter, another does away with the human actors to make use of puppet Russian dolls instead, and the show's lighting technical is even roped into one sketch. But good ideas need to be backed up by strong line-by-line writing - and that is what was often missing here. If the concepts could be 'gagged up' this could potentially be a five star show but, as it stands, it's not there yet.
It pains me to write the above as, having watched the group's burlesque sketch, it would no doubt have been a good idea for me to have given them five stars and gone partying with them to celebrate... but I’ve got to put my honest thoughts in this review, even if it means they might not invite me to the party. Sorry girls!