The Beta Males: The Train Job

A pioneering super-train, a series of unexplained deaths and disgraced former MP Stephen Byers as a conflicted hero – these are just some of the ingredients of this brilliant sketch-narrative from The Beta Males quartet. With pace and invention befitting its subject matter, The Train Job simply powers along, with some sequences advancing the plot, others merely exploiting the situation for laughs and most achieving both.

Transport secretary Phillip Hammond (Richard Soames) persuades his bitter, corrupt predecessor Byers (Jon Gracey), his crimes reeled off from Wikipedia in damning detail, to try to learn the secret of the locomotive’s propulsion system as it speeds from London to Edinburgh on its maiden trip. Designed by the schemingly suspect Evelyn Sands (John Henry Falle) and driven by his none-too-bright, maligned nephew Cyril (Guy Kelly), there’s an enjoyably retro, steam era feel to the story, which despite the contemporary allusions and more grisly moments, resembles an Ealing caper.

Also onboard are the dastardly Marquis of Thievesbury, the detective inspector whose wife the incorrigible crook persists in sleeping with, a shadowy cabal of evil named The Four, Jack and Rose from Titanic and—making a cameo as the train shoots through Leeds—a Brief Encounter-style adulterous couple. Tightly written and performed, even the more knockabout moments are characterised by snappy dialogue. The sketches vary from silent movie slapstick to elaborate farce, and the group have tremendous fun occasionally breaking the fourth wall. If you’ve been waiting for a joyously daft, rail-based romp, The Beta Males have arrived at the Fringe right on time.