EDINBURGH 2025: Review: THE MANCHESTER REVUE IN CUBICLE LAND, Just The Tonic

An entire sketch comedy show based around real-life graffiti scrawled in toilet cubicles is the sort of premise you could only ever wish to come up with. Unfortunately, for any other sketch comedy groups looking for a good show idea, The Manchester Revue beat you to it. Though I’m sure audiences at this year's Fringe will be appreciative.

Ranging from the bizarre to the political to the romantic to just downright weird, the real-life inspiration for the show offers a diverse range of sketches that somehow all manage to elicit a laugh from the audience.

Now in their fifth consecutive year at the Fringe, this year marks the first time that the troupe’s performers have been made up entirely by women. And what a cast they are. The five performers, Elise Lane, Martha Pardue, Isla Campbell, Lily Lyon and Hope Briggs, all bring their own individual styles to their performance, making each sketch feel unique. There is one performer, especially, who is sure to remind you of a young Gilda Radner - a powerhouse of a comedic talent.

Collectively, they deliver gut-wrenching sketches such as the three-part ‘shower thoughts’ gag, the short but sweet ‘getting off on the back of the bus’ joke, and the wonderfully silly bit about a politically correct football fan who tries to make chants more kind and inclusive.

There are certainly some ideas which don’t quite connect with the audience to the same extent, such as a parody of the Ask Angela campaign or one about three mice trying to make it onto Noah’s Ark. Occasionally the troupe can go for some low hanging fruit, too, like entitled middle class Londoners (a topic which, though worthy of mocking, has made an appearance at a handful of sketch shows this Fringe). Regardless, each sketch contains at least one thing that gets a good laugh, much of which is in part due to the brilliant performances and the hilarious writing.

Comedy has proven to be a launch pad to success for many years now, with the likes of Olivia Colman, Tina Fey and Ayo Edebiri all coming from backgrounds in comedy in one way, shape or form. With that in mind, one can only assume that the performers of the Manchester Revue will go on to do great things.

The Manchester Revue in Cubicle Land is one of the finest sketch shows of this year's Fringe, and the troupe are sure to keep us laughing for many years to come.

The Manchester Revue in Cubicle Land was at Just The Tonic

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