It’s good to see this three-piece sketch show selling out on a Monday afternoon, as the boys are inventive, funny and hard-working. They’ve been going since 2008 and this is their third run at the Fringe.
The Ginge is Blairgowrie’s Graeme Rooney, who started his acting career at Dundee College. It’s very family-friendly stuff (unless you’re put off by the sight of three grown men in socks and underpants, which is how they take their bow at the end) and they do a nice line in the absurd.
So a young lion explains to his father that he’s turned vegetarian, as he brings home a giraffe he’s befriended. A man tries to talk his friend out of an addiction to mime artistry. And a dieting man is plagued by visions of a gyrating, human-sized slice of pizza, in what must by one of the most bizarre pastiches of Dirty Dancing ever.
It’s imaginative stuff, and very rarely does a sketch fall flat. And if it does, hey, there’s plenty more. All told, the show contains 34 sketches, 269 props and 312 costume changes. The boys are kept pretty busy!
What makes the show so much fun is (a) its three stars can really act each of them has a fine portfolio spanning stage and screen and (b) the sheer non-stop relentless enthusiasm and energy with which they inhabit the characters they’ve come up with.
This is all the more impressive given that they’re performing not one but two shows a day. While their main show contains all new material, for those who want to catch up on their acclaimed original show, they’re also doing a ‘Best of 2009/10’ performance each evening.
The Ginge, The Geordie And The Geek is at Just the Tonic at the Caves (253 Cowgate) at 4.45pm until August 28. Their Best Of 2009/10 show is at the same venue from 7.45-8.45pm daily.