It’s only at the end of this 40-minute show that they reveal it’s linked to a podcast, which has been running since 2021. The podcast is itself a pastiche of 1940s radio adventure serials, and in this show we’re the audience at a “live transmission”, with actors lined up behind period microphones and an announcer on hand to read the inevitable ads. It’s visually immersive and has the madcap vibe of improv – but they’ve said “yes, and” a few too many times to make a satisfying scripted show.

Lil’ Miss Kate’s an orphan, who – for reasons never explained – lives in New York City Hall. Deputy Mayor Solomon Russell’s responsible for her care, and her tutor’s the eyepatch-toting Lucinda, who (among many badass accolades) is Former Heavyweight Champion Of The World. Implausible plotting’s a valid part of the radio-show schtick, but in this case it goes beyond the preposterous and into the arbitrary. Some surreal universes have enough internal logic to hint at deeper lore; here, it just feels random.

Much of the humour relies on repetition – the way Deputy Mayor Solomon Russell is always referred to by his full title and name, or the fact that Fiorello the talking horse has only one sound-effect neigh. Sometimes I came to look forward to it, for example with the radio ads’ near-identical and increasingly inappropriate slogans, but more often I found myself inwardly screaming that I’d got the joke the first time. Maybe that’s one way that knowing the podcast helps; I can easily imagine that, built up over weeks and years, these could become catchphrases I’d cheer.

The listing promises “live sound effects!”, and on-stage Foley’s been a popular spectacle in recent years. But the Foley artist’s positioned in the tech box, all but invisible from half the audience seats, and many of the noises seem to emanate from his laptop anyway. There’s a tantalising glimpse of something promising there (including a custom-made miniature slammable door), but it deserves to be a focus rather than hidden away.

I listened to the podcast on my way back home, and it’s something I could get into. But as a standalone experience, I’m afraid Lil’ Kate was a miss for me.