Edinburgh Reviews #8: Thermøstaät

Newcastle Review: Thermøstaät
Company: NUTS
Venue: C – baraka
Date: 22 Aug '07

A laudable attempt from a student sketch revue to actually tie together an hour’s sketches under something other than the loosest umbrella title, this show takes as its theme a trip by a team of scientists to the Antarctic. There they meet penguins and the like. Quite a nice idea, and enough diverse ideas are taken from this jumping off point to make the show funny. In addition, the show has a charming cheapness about it, making a virtue out of its relatively low production values by poking fun at itself with masks made of paper plates and the like.

A few of the sketches seemed a bit obvious, chief amongst them the throwaway:

LIGHTS UP
Voiceover: The Arctic is a very desolate place. Often, nothing happens.
Nothing happens.
BLACKOUT

But for the most part it was suitably amusing. As with most shows of its type, it was successful more because of the performances than because of the script. Nonetheless, in a highly competitive field, it felt like it had probably the least creative energy of the three revue shows I saw. Having said which, it did have some ambitious and for the most part successful use of music and even a spot of choreography, for which it deserves bonus points.

That sums the show up, really. It tried hard, and didn’t actually fail, but somehow it just felt a bit… lacking.

3/5