Review: GOODBEAR, Latitude Festival

Check in for an eclectic evening of entertainment with Goodbear. Playing the Cabaret Tent at Latitude Festival, met a whole host of characters in this hotel based sketch show. It's like American Horror Story: Hotel meets Fawlty Towers: scarily funny.

Double act Joe Barnes and Henry Perryment invite you to stay at their pop-up hotel, soon to return to the Edinburgh Fringe to welcome even more guests. Get a peek into the lives of its residents and staff, through quick-witted and even quicker-staged sketches. As one door closes, another door opens and you never know who you'll encounter next...

Guests at this establishment come from all over the world (and beyond) to stay. There's a couple who have hit a marital bunker, and the backpacking bikers who hit a few bumps in the road. Then there's the more unusual clients: a sexed up Grandma and a devil child, just to name a few. Staff are on hand to assist with (almost) all of their needs, including the cocktail waiters whose routine you have to see to believe.

These sketches come from the minds of Barnes and Perryment. Frames of reference feel film heavy: The Karate Kid and The Exorcist both create some memorable moments. The mundane meets the mysterious, in somewhat of a watered down Mighty Boosh. The jokes come quick and fast, sometimes a little too (although this show was edited down for Latitude).

My only critique is the through-line. Only halfway through did I remember this was set in a hotel, which then made much more sense. Up until that point, I took it as pure sketch comedy: jumping from story to story, the accepted setup for TV sketch shows over the past few years. The idea of setting it in a hotel is brilliant and hearkens back to what some may consider to be the golden age of comedy, with Fawlty Towers. It also creates a much bigger picture and clearer narrative structure; this just needs to be communicated much more clearly in the opening sequence.

Barnes and Perryment are a devilishly good double act. Equally matched in energy, their sketches (and cycling) are in synch. Barnes shines in his larger than life characters, while Perryment plays slightly more of the straight-man role. So in synch are they, I would love to see them let loose more.

Frantically funny, Goodbear are the perfect hosts for a short but sweet stay.

Goodbear tour the UK, next playing the Edinburgh Fringe

Photo credit: Steve Ullathorne

To post a comment, you must register and login.