2011 Edinburgh Fringe
Mabbs & Justice review
Sure, starting a show with Love Machine by Girls' Aloud isn't the most original of beginnings but in terms of character comedy one instantly feels like there's potential in Love Machine before they even get started. The idea of setting up like a lonely hearts' club is one which seems refreshing...
Until the show starts, that is.
To say that Mabbs & Justice don't hit a high note is probably a compliment to the pair who shamble their way through painful character treatments which manage, throughout the hour long show, to raise about ten laughs. Half of which are barely more than chuckles.
In honesty, it's not just poor jokes that lets the show down. The characters themselves do nothing to benefit the comedians playing them. They almost exclusively come across as unlikeable, as though they've picked the wrong man in the duo to act as the stooge.
Perhaps when a room isn't on your side from minute one, it would be more sensible not to berate them 'in character' on an almost too personal level. While the narrative structure isn't terrible, the show leaves loose ends hanging like piñatas that never get touched, let alone burst open.
Perhaps it's easy to say that when you come out of a show with notes that approach something closer to a top 20 list of over-used gags (including such wonders as spinsters with cats, the Welsh, a rendition of All by Myself and gingers), you've not seen a good show.
Still, it's not all bad. BBC 3 commissioners will no doubt be big fans of the show. And that's no bad thing given that it feels as though it's been written with them in mind.
Mabbs & Justice: Love Machine listing
