Phil Jupitus and Deborah Frances White: Voices in Your Head

Towards the end of this show a group of lads in the audience let their inner voice out and take issue with what has been put before them. It's hard to blame them entirely for their lack of response to this improv 'happening' that sees Phil Jupitus put into various scenarios (hitherto unknown to him) and then 'directed' by the voice of Deborah Frances-White.

"If you have come for Phil's standup you are going to be disappointed," warns Frances-White from her off-stage position at the top of the show, a remark aimed at the aforementioned lads. Fair warning, but by the end you could change that to "if you had come for an evening's laughter and entertainment..." Witnessing Jupitus as a fallen 1920s Mexican movie star, a 1930s New York miscreant, a director of Hollywood musicals and someone visited by his silent movie icon was not the spectacle it might have been. Frances-White's imperious voice tries to extract the funny with a series of questions to Jupitus's improvised characters. It has some success with a device where she rings a bell if she's not happy with the answer he gives, prompting Jupitus to bid up his gags.

As the evening wore on, however, Frances-White's involvement either dwindled or didn't help Jupitus find an out from scenes that were rapidly turning into indulgent melodrama. They always say with improv no two shows are the same. Let's hope that's the case here — it would be a shame for someone else to have to endure a repeat performance.