I've seen so many shows at the Edinburgh Fringe over the years that a show must have something good about it if I can still remember bits of it two years later. The Pin's 2012 show put a new twist on the old sketch show format with a narrative which ran backwards and forwards in time, with events towards the end helping to make sense of events at the beginning. I think there was something about someone hanging off a building and something about a sexual encounter on a Virgin train. The funny thing is that I recently discovered that Pin lynchpin Alex Owen is the son of Patricia Hodge, who I remember appearing in Harold Pinter's Betrayal, which also had something of a reverse plot. Maybe a coincide, but an interesting one. The Pin has now slimmed down to a duo but lost none of their inventiveness. Here's a review of their current show, which first appeared in the Evening Standard. They are at the Soho Theatre until March 22 and have just added an extra date on March 28 due to demand.
The Pin first made a splash as a trio with a penchant for subverting the traditional sketch template. They are now down to the erudite duo of Alex Owen and Ben Ashenden but have lost none of the heady inventiveness that initially got them noticed.
Their latest show starts as boyishly blond Owen types out dialogue for bespectacled Ashenden — and some audience victims — to deliver as it appears on a large screen. This establishes the knowing, modern mood. The Two Ronnies they are not, though a skit in which Ashenden’s quizmaster has to find questions to fit answers has a hint of Ronnie Barker about it.
The references come from classical and contemporary culture. Footballer Frank Lampard gets pretentious filming a razor ad, Osama Bin Laden turns out to be lurking in the background of a famous portrait. A running gag involves Tim Burton movie pitches which invariably involve Johnny Depp in a weird hat.
If some scenes slightly outstay their welcome others, particularly a brisk section on unlikely apps, keep things bubbling along. The final playlet was surplus to requirements but we can expect big things from this little outfit.
