Tom Clayton
The opening musical number firmly transports you into the year of 1925, The Burton Brothers then begin to take you on a journey of a series of increasing silly, daft and eccentric sketches using stereotypes of the 1920s and in their words ‘a transatlantic accent for an hour’.
Placing the show in 1925 means that the hour feels different to other sketch shows you might see. Allowing them to take full advantage of the stereotypes of the era often as the butt of the joke, from the idea that masculinity is about being tough and then bursting into song to contradict this or using a church to highlight the traditional man and wife dynamic even if they often see things differently. Furthermore, with the ability to utilise the differences between what we would consider day to day items which to 1925 are new inventions allows them greater scope, for example they have a sketch where a man enters a hall of mirrors to distort his appearance for the first time.
Clearly using these stereotypes to mine new sketches and create something fresh, this doesn’t however stop them from getting lost a little towards the end as in one sketch Dracula and Frankenstein head for dinner. Highlights that maybe they were slightly running out of ideas, which is probably to be expected as there is only so much you can mine from the 1920s.
Where they truly start to excel is their improvisation, often catching each other off guard at times with the absurdness of what the other is saying. At times using the audience allows them to riff their way through a sketch in exemplary fashion and resulted in the often the funniest sketches of the whole show as they just got further and further off the rails. Being brothers in real life they already have the natural chemistry to bounce off one another instinctively feeling where the other one is about to go and being ready to follow them.
Silly and daft as all sketch should be, The Burton Brothers allow you to forget the world around you for one hour and just enjoy the stupidness that their mind as concocted. A very enjoyable hour that takes you into the early evening nicely.
Recommend Drink: Any old time classic cocktail, be a martini or old fashioned whatever suits your taste.
You can catch The Burton Brothers: 1925 at The Crate at Assembly George Square from Aug 6-24 (not the 11th) at 16:20 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Jasmine Silk
Phoebe Bakker
Jake Mace
