The St Andrews Revue Hits the Big Time
Gillian Davies reviews the Revue’s contribution to On The Rocks.
As a part of the On The Rocks arts festival, the St Andrews Revue took to the stage for an evening of hilarious sketch comedy that had the audience laughing from start to finish.
From the opening dance number in unforgiving, brightly coloured tights, it was clear the show would be a spectacle that kept the crowd engaged, if only to see what the creative team would manage to come up with as they hit “the big time.” As usual, the lineup of sketches was fast-paced and accompanied by a catchy song between intervals, and there was never a real moment of dullness during the performance.
The running sketch of monks in 1413 St Andrews warranted serious laughter from the audience as the Revue mocked the difficulty of finding housing in town, the debauchery of Raisin weekend, and the constant struggle of bin night with housemates. In an attempt to make a quintessentially English flag following Brexit and Scotland’s independence, the reasonable decision to simply pretend to be Germany was reached, bringing amusement to the ever-disastrous political climate of today.
Under the guise of applying to a slot with the BBC, the group performed rowdy, inappropriate sketches, from Jimmy Saville jokes to a reimagining of the Love Actually placard scene, complete with contextual racism and sexism, all to their eventual demise. The sketches were a perfect mix of obscene and witty, a line that is frequently missed in comedy. The show took a dark turn when Mary Berry was depicted as a celebrity killer, leading to funeral musings that drew in the audience and brought to the fore the fact that it is best we not think too much about some things, or at least try not to take the Bake Off too seriously.
The self-deprecating nature of the cast came through as they mocked one another all for the sake of comedy, and if the raucous laughter had anything to say, the show was a fantastic success. The shocking crude humour, the unexpected nudity, and the closing musical number certainly displayed a wide array of talents and the different sketches catered to many different senses of humour. I applaud the men of the St Andrews Revue, and look forward to what jokes they come up with in the future!