Mould and Arrowsmith : A Sketch Show in PowerPoint
In stand up comedy shows, PowerPoint is often used by an act to provide additional clarification for or the transmission of material, often not very effectively. Upon seeing the advertising for Mould and Arrowsmith : A Sketch Show In PowerPoint, I was interested in seeing how this tool would translate to a sketch show. The added attraction of IT alchemy with the repair of a broken laptop ‘live on stage’ piqued my interest further.
At the start of the show, the technology was front and centre with a clever introductory slide show of a ‘Thought Monitor’ that displayed the thoughts or both performers as well as the audience. They were also able to use this a warm up device for the obligitory applause practice.
When Steve Mould and Gemma Arrowsmith entered the stage, the PowerPoint concept was explained; that most of the sketches were to use it in some way. It would be as either backdrop to the sketch, as a device for setting up a sketch, the sketch itself or as a third character. After an initial segment free of PowerPoint, I was surprised at how a considerable amount of the show didn’t actually use the computer; raising concerns that I would not be sick of PowerPoint by the end of the show as promised. I was relieved to find that the ones that did embrace the technology made good use of it. They animated the typing of humorous letters between the performers, portrayed a priest (although he was just a static image) and used as introductions to acted TV shows.
The sketches ranged from social satire (wanky food descriptions at restaurants) to religion (the reading of heavy Theological questions from children), the macbre (Steve’s PowerPoint suicide note) , TV Parody (Who Wants to be a Millionare) and the insanely pedantic (the 50s educational film, ‘Sophies (sic) Story’). There were plenty of recurring themes, several side stories and a number of call backs to items to extracted as much humour as possible from their ideas.
For the most part there was a thread of silliness and absurd that ran through most of the show that made it very light hearted in tone. Apart from a few that fell short the sketches were hilarious. A recurring element of deconstructing the show for the audience sometimes bordered on annoying. This was clearly set out in the advertising but their tactic of high repetition didn’t always deliver the laughs while some self referential items seemed to be merely for the sake of it.
Steve and Gemma threw themselves into the various roles and, apart from a couple of lapses in maintaining character and accents, pulled them off brilliantly. They bounced off each other perfectly and were both able to play the straight role when called for. The use of simple props and costuming enhanced the performance by introducing a little bit of low tech to procedings.
While not the PowerPoint extraveganza I was expecting, this was a wonderfully fun show that contains enough computer to keep the Geeks happy while being broad enough to cater to everyone else.
Visit the Fringe Website for booking details.