Cambridge Universities Christ’s Collage Amateur Dramatic Society have become the first student production we have reviewed this year at the Fringe. The make shift performance spaces that spring up over Edinburgh for the fringe can, at best, be a little troubling for the performers, yet The Red Room seemed perfectly suited for what I can only describe as a sketch show like no other.
I got into the show a little late and it had already started. Death playing chess with Napoleon, later joined by JD Rockefeller, Agatha Christie, and Dr Johnson. This early sketch seemed to come out the blue and set the scene, in a pretty impressive way, of just what The Occasional Students are about. The idea that Death would play board games was fun and the interaction between the other players seamless.
The team had three sketches that on there own where so tightly written and so expertly delivered that they could have been part of any credible TV sketch show, this standard really can’t be understated. The first sketch was playful and funny in the way that will make you smile constantly, the relationshop between Agatha Christie and JD Rockefeller was quite a surprise and the fact that Death, Napoleon and Dr Johnson seemed to dislike Agatha Christie (there is a line Death uses that will make you laugh pretty hard) was creative. The Textile Brothers – a has-been boy band – was again so perfectly written and performed that they could have made an entire 30 minute sketch work. And the Marketing sketch could have been made into a series, think Stephen Fry in Absolute Power mixed with a fine sprinkling of your 1980s city banker.
When groups use amateur you think, much like many people who believe free fringe shows are rubbish because they are free, that they are not really going to be of a high standard. What the Occasional Students prove is that this is not just a very serious misconception but that they are skilled writers and impressive performers. Their sketches flow with a vigorous pace and they have a lot of dialogue and a lot of changes yet they remained on the ball, and over the course of the hour showed no visible slips or mistakes.
Some of their other sketches, Nuclear holocaust (not really sure where their Yorkshire accents came from but t’ hear it was very warm indeed), the Vet, and the speed dating showed that they are willing to take risks and experiment, which worked wonderfully for them.
The Fringe really doesn’t take place till today and last nights show was, like many on the fringe, only managed to get a few people in. Yet even with this the guys gave it 100%, their spirits remained high and their delivery was suburb with the standard of their show high and their material unique…and am tempted to come back midway through their run!
‘The Occasional Student’s is well written, well acted, and worth more than an hour of your time…See this show!’
C central (the red room) 5-21 Aug at 23:15 (1hr00)
Tickets £7.50-£9.50 / concessions £6.50-£8.50
Recommended age 14+
To book tickets call 0845 260 1234.
