COMEDY
Showing @ Just the Tonic at The Caves, until 28 Aug @ 10:15pm
The day after the night before; we’ve all been there, and it ain’t a pretty picture. Reeling from the after effects of a night of heavy drinking and drug use, Guilt & Shame follows Robert Cawsey and Gabriel Bissett-Smith (as themselves) as they cobble together their Fringe show despite the onslaught of a demanding drug dealer and disastrous semi-memories unfold around them.
With a melodramatic core plot, it’s painfully obvious that the duo have done little more than throw together a series of unrelated sketches without any real thought of how they’d fit together into their story. The acting is a laugh and the entire space is put to full use, but this accentuates rather than distracts from a surprisingly amateur production. Neither the script nor the performances give any indication that the pair actually have quite impressive writing and acting credits under their belts. Both having been trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Bissett-Smith is an award-winning writer/director/actor, and Cawsey writes with BBC Radio 4’s Carrie Quinlan.
Although there’s titters from the audience, the only people really holding their bellies in fits of laughter are the stage hands and friends and family of the production. It may well be hilarious to see your nearest and dearest behaving in an even more debauched way than normal, but it doesn’t have the same effect amongst strangers. Self-indulgent and lazily put together, you won’t lose any sleep if you give this show a miss.
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