Princes of Main: New Year's Eve

There's a real pleasure in a show slowly winning you over. What starts with the feeling of an energetic but unfocused student revue incrementally and surprisingly turns inself into something with genuine comic vigour, revealing thoughtful structuring that belies imaginative effort.

That initial impression arises because the Princes of Main are three white men whose opening skits unpick the nature of funny sketches in a manner reminiscent of troupes playing with comedy for the first time. It all seems a bit too cool and detached, unwilling to commit. But then a narrative arises, in which the three have decided to host a new year's eve party because 2017 has been so terrible it's logical to get it over with now and move on. And while that conceit appears at first to be little more than a nod to the need for coherence, it persistently returns until a series of callbacks demonstrates that there's been a plan all along.

It's a technically complex show, and doesn't always run smoothly. There are smart sequences that use audience interaction well, even if the three don't always have the quickfire skills needed to respond to participant behaviour. And in Ben Pope they have a significant comic performer whose character is well-defined; it's a shame this acuity doesn't extend to all parts of the show. But the persistent exuberance coupled with a denouement that evidences skill with comic narrative means there's more here than at first appears. Give it time.