The Meeting

Any comedy set in the workplace risks attracting unfavourable comparisons with The Office, so pervasive is Ricky Gervais' hit TV series. And this critical fate is even more likely to burn a company at the Fringe if the comedy in question is aiming for realism.

And realism is certainly on the agenda in The Meeting, a production that takes place in a bland conference centre down the road from Pleasance. In this innovative, site-specific comedy, the audience members—seated around an enormous oval table in a strip lit room replete with magnolia walls—are treated as employees of the fictional firm. Well-wishing cards are signed for absent colleagues, secret notes are passed between mutinous hands, and numerous sheets of A4 are enthusiastically distributed during the course of the proceedings, lending the production a semi-interactive air.

Sharp suited, David Brent-esque Trevor chairs the meeting, which mainly consists of trivialities and tantrums. He is helped, or perhaps hindered, by Michael, a stuttering clown bearing more than a passing resemblance to The Office's Gareth, who confuses a handful of coins left in the petty cash box for the gross value of the company. Despite Trevor's attempts to keep things vaguely on track, Michael seems more concerned with finding his blue and white chequed mug “from home,” while IT manager Gabriel vociferously complains about the company's impending relocation to a different site.

Though the inspiration behind House of Windsor's latest creation is no secret, the talented trio emerge from the production largely unscathed due to the perfectly pitched petty power struggles of The Meeting's first half. A terrifically awkward silence follows a disagreement about when best to hand out last week's minutes, and a mis-timed conference call leaves half the room facing imminent redundancy.

But sadly the illusion of everyday reality doesn't last, and The Meeting soon descends into farce. While Michael's half-baked pitch to sell the sleep of third world populations to wealthy Westerners is entertaining, its absurdity jars with the comics' more observant material.

Given the success of both The Meeting and Office Party at this year's Fringe, perhaps we should gleefully await the arrival of The Office: The Musical next time round.