It’s a match made in – well, Ladbrokes, or round the back of Morrisons. Angelos Epithemiou (Dan Renton Skinner) is a gormless social misfit and erstwhile sidekick on Vic and Bob’s Shooting Stars. Barry from Watford is Alex Lowe’s wheezing octogenarian alter ego. Together, they present a popular podcast and now bring us the New Power Generation, their cult – sorry, spiritual movement – designed either to save the world or raise enough money to settle Barry’s debts to his pissed-off wife.
What follows can seem thinner than Angelos’s frayed Sainsbury’s bag, and frequently puerile. One routine trades on saying “tits” over and again at a picture of two songbirds; another on the amusingness of our hosts’ euphemisms (“plum bag”; “elderly nut-sack”, etc) for testicles. But at least the shambling and idiocy is entirely in character. And as the show develops and strains appear in this enfeebled duo’s relationship, subtler notes are played.
The best of them are supplied by the great Chris Larner, whose song about the pair’s cut-price friendship (on plastic bags: “They cost 5p / Doesn’t sound a lot but it’s prohibitive to me”) mines bathos and comes up with something spry and tender. And there are some choice gags, like Angelos’s endearingly batty communion with the spirit of Kenneth Williams.
Lowe and Skinner inhabit the characters with affection and skill. Their show adds up to very little, but is occasionally delightful while it does so.
- At Soho theatre, London, until 18 February. Box office: 020-7478 0100.
