Metro
Thursday, 15 January 2004

Reviewed by Dominic Maxwell

The Soho Blast festival glows invitingly amid the midwinter comedy gloom. Some of the capital's quirkier acts get to ply their wares in the Soho Theatre's studio space; and some of us get to see acts take a risk or two. But, hey, it can't always work out. This second festival has launched with an act no better than their stupid name suggests.

This five men on this team are decent performers - even if the best of them, Stephen Evans, is puzzlingly underemployed - and their presentation is slick for a first London show.

Yet none of the routines would stand out at an undergraduate cabaret. And from the opening Sweeney Todd routine - ruined by one of the Conservatoire's thoughtless choice of footwear - to the the rubbish magician, a theme emerges: that nothing is serious.

But a refusal to take anything seriously is not the same as a sense of humour. There's got to be something underpinning irreverence if it's not to seem like callowness. Here, the "dark" material - about grief, cancer, suicide - rings especially hollow, because it doesn't subvert pain, it denies its existence.

Hey-ho. That aside, there's great stuff to come in the festival - highlights include the deceptively smart casual Will Smith (Jan 21 and 22) and stand up Matt Blaize (Jan 31).

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