EDINBURGH 2023: Review: THE ST ANDREWS REVUE, Just The Tonic At The Caves

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is full of stories of performers only performing to an audience of one or two people. In spite of this, it is quite rare to experience, or at least it was for this reviewer, until this performance of The St Andrews Revue in which I was one of eight audience members (everyone else at this Fringe seems to be talking about their low attendances and getting free publicity and improved ticket sales in return, why not The St Andrews Revue).

However, in spite of the room being less than full, the members of the troupe did what all performers should and they came out and put on one hell of a show anyway; whether there's one audience member or a hundred, they've still paid for a show and that is exactly what we got.

With fewer in attendance came a more relaxed and fun atmosphere for those on stage, allowing them to joke around and loosen up while doing their usual routines. It puts the audience at ease too, allowing them to sit back and enjoy the show.

The group seem to lean more on the side of silly and odd humour in which the comedy primarily comes from just how ridiculous the situations are. Admittedly, some more variety in the types of jokes on display would be welcome, though one can't deny just how well the group handles the silliness of the show.

What the Revue seem to especially understand is comedic timing as well as the length of a sketch, switching things up throughout with some truly short yet hilarious sketches. The "f*** the Seagulls society" comes in under a minute and has a very funny, if expected, punchline, and some much longer scenes such as one parody of high school set TV shows or two alien women explaining their types. Perhaps the biggest laugh of the night came when one performer simply took out a tomato and declared "is it pronounced toe-may-toe or toe-mah-toe?" before then attempting to eat the entire thing before realising it had gone off.

Though the group may stick to a more daft type of comedy there is no denying that the cast are very skilled and experienced performers who know what they are doing, more so, the sketches used within the hour allow for every cast member to shine, utilising their own individual comedic abilities to craft a fun and enjoyable hour of comedy.

The St Andrews Revue runs at Just The Tonic at the Caves until 27 August.

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