It is often hard to know whether Edinburgh stalwarts Peepolykus (pronounced people-like-us) should be in the theatre or comedy part of the Fringe programme. This year is no different: All in the Timing is described as "five one-act comedies" but it's more the stuff of sketch shows. The first of these, about a group of monkeys being paid peanuts to type into infinity in the hope of producing Hamlet, is superb stuff-witty, clever and rather touching. The word play is dazzling. Others-including one about Trotsky and ice-picks-very much outstay their welcome.
In some ways the writing is just too clever for its own good and the company - although charming as ever - don't really have the dramatic skills to pull it off. They work best when the writing is at its most absurd, as in a scam concerning an Esperanto-style language. But if it is theatre, you want it to have some meaning; and as comedy it just isn't funny enough. Sadly, Peepolykus fall down the crack between the two.
