Edinburgh 2002

Fringe

Newsrevue 2002
C

Peter Rossi

In all, a welcome, intelligent and spiky satire of contemporary life, Newsrevue intersperses sketches of varying lengths, some musical, set to live piano, with tannoy announcements, while the four actors change offstage.

It is non-stop, very energetic, and there are very few duds. That there are a few is not a surprise given the ambitious range of topics covered, but this said, even the less humorous bits contain sharp insights.

The two actors and two actresses (plus the pianist) change almost seamlessly between roles as diverse as George Bush (junior and senior), David Beckham, the Queen and Halle Berry, although not necessarliy in that order. The humour is obviously satirical, frequently political, and there are common sexual undertones which become clear as the show goes on.

The tone is perhaps a cross between Rory Bremner and the Fast Show, although far more cutting in places. The musical accompaniment includes a memorably mispelt 'Memories' from Cats and a similarly bastardized 'I will survive': none of these feel incongrous.

For me, without giving too much away, the highlights were a Star Wars skit involving Bush (junior) and bin Laden and Ariel Sharon advertising a particularly effective 'cleansing' powder of a similar name. Look out also for Slobodan Milosevic and Schumacher. All got laughs from a packed audience and a few even prompted an 'oh' of amazement tinged with distaste, particularly Harold Shipman.

If you follow politics and current affairs, you will not fail to enjoy Newsrevue, and even if you are politically apathetic, there are some jokes which don't involve prior knowledge.

Until August 25: 21.00 (45mins)