Were crammed, twenty of us, into a small room above a student pub in Liverpool. Outside its raining hard; inside the atmosphere isnt so much expectant as damp. It may be writer and collective member Chris Fittocks hometown, with his family turning out to support him, but this is still going to be a cold audience, in both senses. Then we hear that theres been a car crash as the company tried to navigate Liverpools current, fiendish roadworks. Mercifully no-ones hurt but theyre all late and a bit shaken. I sit there with rainwater dripping off me, and my sock squelching whenever I shift position wondering if it would have been kinder to stay at home tonight for both of us.
Dog-Eared arent so easily defeated however, and if theyre thrown by their day they hide it well. Wireless is a sketch show, with various bizarre excursions into human oddity woven around an increasingly bonkers Victorian melodrama, and Dog-Eared bring energy and a keen sense of observation to both.
The five performers in Dog-Eared are uniformly capable, showing a great energy and sense of fun, so its unfair to single anyone out. Theres a broad range of targets in Dog-Eareds humour, and inevitably I didnt find everything funny. However my companion loved the sketches that left me cold, so its probably fair to say theres something here for everyone. Definitely worth a look.
"The Wireless Sketch Show" is on tour. See www.dogearedcollective.co.uk for dates.