... Oram & Meeten Gilded Balloon The key here is: hope to catch them on a day when everything goes wrong, for they are at their best when improvising. Their pre- prepared sketches and characters are sometimes amusing and sometimes merely wacky but generally strung together without a sense of progression or connectedness. They kick it off at full speed but immediately pace it down with a point ...

... KT Sullivan and Mark Nadler Pizza on the Park Tired of Gershwin? Then rush to the Music Room where American cabaret performers KT Sullivan and Mark Nadler are presenting American Rhapsody- this show will rejuvenate the most iaded palate. Following Nadler's Piano Prelude I, Sullivan's disembodied voice is heard singing Fascinating Rhythm. When she arrives onstage stunning in black dress and boa ...

... Graft -Tales of an Actor Komedia @ Southside Bit of a conundrum here. Anything Steven Berkoff writes comes with a built-in blueprint that moulds the aspiring performer unto his likeness. Any hint of innovation can provoke an inevitably terminal case of no-play. George Dillon has embraced the great man's one-man travel ogue into the infenal underbelly of a fading actor's life, and his Faustian ...

... No 2 Assembly Rooms What can I say? It is a world of many tastes but if you gave me just one show to see this year, Madeleine Sami in No 2 is it. Penned by Toa Fraser, this is a majestically observed minnepic that kicks off at 4am in a Fijian New Zealand suburb. A crotchety grandmother has just roused her unruly progeny to prepare a feast so she can nominate her successor before abandoning ...

... Addy Borgh Pleasance Sometimes I just can't be both ered to get up in the morning, says Addy Borgh, ruminating on what he might say if he were asked about his negative points in a job interview. Well, it is unlikely to get him a nine to five job, but on stage he can use his laid-back 'I used to smoke a lot of dope' charm to pretty decent effect. He is quite an engaging performer who relies ...

... Swinging its way to success Scotland Yard Playground Decky Does a Bronco Grid Iron Theatre Company's productions always 'do a Bronco'- they are dangerous, exhilarating and absolutely brilliant to watch when they get it right. Broncoing a swing park stunt where you jump off a high, fast swing and kick the seat over the bar as you land is at the heart of this wonderful new play by Douglas ...

... Cambridge Footlights: Sensible Haircut Pleasance Matt Green as a performer was the bright spot in otherwise unmemo- rable shows last year and the one before that. As Footlights president, he directs this year's, but is nowhere to be seen, which is a pity. This is a whimsical rambling affair, with the men in fifties gear, about a sweetshop, assertiveness training, authors and their readers, and ...

... Fantasia- A Clown Show c The concept, though not original, certainly has a ready potential for comedy. Faced with the non- appearance of the actors for a show, two theatre ushers improvise entertainment for the audience until hopefully the cast arrive, which never happens. Swedish clown Jonas Sodergren and Hong Kong actress Ka-Lee Ho, youthful members of the inter national Players Ensemble, ...

... The Leisure Virus Gilded Balloon mis snow written by Wins Head and Barry Ferns is a revue of remarkable consistency in that every single item is the concept for a sketch but not the sketch itself. Repeatedly a premise is established and then goes nowhere, as the sketch either abruptly stops or drags on in search of a punchline until the lights mercifully drop. A man thinks he has a womb. A ...

... Generally Better Productions- 3 Dark Tales Assembly Rooms With a twist of physicality, a smattering of gobbledygook and a strong lacing of invention, Generally Better Productions brings the desperate stories of three sad people to their dance-infused playground. Tribble is a weedy misfit, dominated by his rouged-up wife (the splendidly pugnacious Sarah Coxon) at home and the vicious Frank at ...

... McDougall & Donkin Gilded Balloon Two bright and personable comedi ennes offer a fast-moving hour of sketches without a dud in the bunch. Topics range from Aussie tourists to sexual quirks, from dog training to sci-fi, while comic style jumps seamlessly from satire to absurdism to verbal invention. High points are two sketches built on rapid-fire word play, one involving puns on bird species, ...

... The Unbearable Truth About Hats Gilded Balloon This four-person show offers the kind of bizarre, off-several-walls comedy that the Fringe has been missing since the early days of undergraduate revues. Fast-paced, absolutely unpredictable from minute to minute, and likely to turn a comer into some alternative reality without notice, it sets a standard few others can approach. The basic premise ...