Ben Van Der Velde's Chain Letter

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A love letter to letters; Van der Velde's premise of re-establishing the handwritten word as the way we communicate with our loved ones is an admirable one. However, the quest set by this corkscrew-curled, half-Jewish, half-Geordie comic feels so contrived that the novelty of the show fades early on.

The human chain letter he proposes sees the self-styled postie (complete with black and white stuffed cat and full Postman Pat garb) sent on various futile errands to get people to contact long-lost friends. Most encounters result in lukewarm anecdotes, falling down because, most often, people don't want to dig up the past. The consequent limpness is enough to lose audience sympathy with the task at hand and the inherent charm is squandered.

Van der Velde's stock club lines, outside of his solo debut's narrative, are deftly dispatched, although sometimes you can feel the disappointment that they don't get more of a response. That was never going to be easy with what he describes as an audience sat in a "2-1-3-1" formation. Some "midfield generals" arrive later to fill in the gaps, but you sense that he's not at his most playful.

"Don't let the robots win," is Van der Velde's message, in a time of texting and email. The emotive aspect of receiving a letter is, however, introduced far too late and feels like an add-on to a series of bland stories that defy exaggeration. The predictable patterns here are of man's making.