Umbilical Brothers: KiDSHoW (not for kids)

The Umbilical Brothers arrive at the Edinburgh Fringe from Australia for the first time in nine years – but they haven’t aged a day. Physical comedy duo Shane Dundas and David Collins inject their relentlessly twisted, farcical humour into a new show that’s definitely not for kids. They deal the art of mime as if it’s crack cocaine, imprison Mickey Mouse in an underground cellar and enact a disgustingly funny routine on the systematic murder of The Brady Bunch.

Dundas and Collins are clearly two gifted performers, with clowning, slapstick and standup techniques all powering the show. But although the hook is that they are playing to an audience of children who turn out to be adults, the comedy is too infantile. The setup is clever but the gags are wasted, along with their talents, as they blurt out Lee Evans-style sound effects. Each thread entertains for the first few seconds but almost immediately wears thin – and then carries on for up to ten minutes.

The duo have aimed to reinvent themselves with a brand of comedy that lifts them away from the genuine kids’ shows that they’re known for. But by maintaining a comparably daft, puerile format, they have completely cheapened and ultimately thwarted their own skills. By playing games on stage for an hour, they will please the crowds and bring in the casual Fringe-goers, but the show taken as a whole is poorly judged and irritatingly commercial. Perhaps we will one day witness Dundas and Collins exhibiting their enviable talents without needing to channel them into knob gags.