zazU: Raisins to Stay Alive

Comedy troupe zazU rather create their own problems – and I'm not talking about the pressing one regarding the fact that the island of zazU is about to flip over, killing everyone and ending the world. No, it's worse than that. How does a group stretch a delightfully absurd premise out to an hour of sketch comedy without it becoming less and less delightful or absurd.

Well, they don't. Their surreal world, in which down is up, up is down, and raisins are more valuable than diamonds, doesn't feel substantial enough to support a single coherent narrative. It needs to be heavily padded out with sublots that are little more than vehicles for odd bits of character comedy.

Which is a shame because the character comedy is nicely pitched – from a group of dickish office workers, to oddball scientists and a mermaid who doesn't want to go for a drink because she drinks all day. Each has quirks which are cleverly observed and reproduced with energy and skill. What's more, as a group they work wonderfully together. They're right on each others' cues, breezing through some of the shakier jokes with vigour.

There's some off kilter innovations, too – a scene change transformed into a mini religious ritual, for instance. But too many of the skits rely on the tried and tested, with too many finishing with the equivalent of the 16-tonne weight. And the constant background music is an odd choice, usually sounding like it's coming from another show. Maybe it was. You never know on zazU.