Birthday Girls: 2053

Set in a dystopian future in which comedy has been outlawed, Birthday Girls' debut is presented as a covert, underground performance. An anti-comedy rally is taking place immediately outside the venue and the three comics risk being shot on sight should law enforcers get wind of their activities. Whenever they suspect that they're in danger, the trio act out 'Scottish Family Drama', a crass, histrionic soap intended to lend proceedings an air of legality.

Having come up with an engaging premise and taken on Tom Parry of Pappy's as director, the sketch troupe, all former members of the acclaimed Lady Garden, seem poised to withstand the air of expectation that hangs over them. On this showing, Birthday Girls: 2053 is unlikely to be as seismic as the work of Beattie Edmondson's acclaimed parents (Ade Edmondson and Jennifer Saunders), but she and her colleagues Camille Ucan and Rose Johnson excel in their commitment to irrepressible silliness.

Little more than a cheap pun is required to form the basis of a Birthday Girls sketch, but rarely do these slighter pieces outstay their welcome. Flashbacks introduce strong routines almost as parenthesis and lend the show a complex sense of structure, the performers proving utterly shameless in their pursuit of laughter, yet all the while retaining strong individual personalities. The downside to the girls' antics is that they occasionally seem forced and self-aware, making it extremely difficult for the audience to be swept up by the mania unfolding on stage. In short, it's almost all a bit too professional.