The Balloon Debate

Gary and Dan are stuck in a hot air balloon on what was supposed to be a date between Gary and his girlfriend Sarah. Sarah, however, has pulled out, apparently to look after her recently dumped gay friend Tom. With them is Brent, their balloon operator, who is marginally psychotic. While this trio have hit on a great set-up for cringe comedy, they fail to capitalise on it and the show feels like a wasted opportunity.

The comic duo of Glyn Doggett and David Ephgrave share an endearing dynamic which goes some way to compensate for a general lack of comic timing. An uncomfortable self-awareness around their performance needs to be overcome to prevent the throwing away of perfectly good lines. The pleasure in multi-character comedy often lies in watching talented performers riff off each other; Doggett and Ephgrave sometimes appear not to even be listening to one another which results in messy and flat dialogue.

The comedy is largely based around Gary’s jealousy of the attention being received by Tom from Sarah and Dan’s insensitivity and frustration towards the worries of his friend. There is only so far this can go, hence the necessity of Brent’s farting, kazoo playing interludes, portions of which crack a smile but for the most part are too self-conscious. The action ends with a ridiculous revelation between the two friends, and—as has been inevitable from the start—Brent falls out of the balloon. There is potential here, but there is also a lot of polishing to be done.