John Robins: Work In Progress/Progress In Work

Such was the buzz around John Robins' return to Edinburgh that tickets for the entire run of this show sold out long before the Fringe began, indeed they were the first tickets that I bought for our own Edinburgh return and the rest of our week fell into place around it.

Granted, the room he was playing was fairly small as the show was listed as a work in progress, but he could have doubtless sold out a room twice the size for the run with no problems. And so it was that I moved from a show where I was the only member of the audience to the complete juxtaposition of a sold out room with a queue the largest I had seen all week (ironically until the next - and final - show I saw).

Robins is on form and you can tell that he is excited to be back at the Fringe and doing live comedy to an audience all too willing to lap up what he has to offer. The material is sound and has everyone laughing almost start to finish, we have themes of anxiety, lockdown, lockdown anxiety and the breakdown of his most recent relationship. Whilst this might seem a fairly obvious and recurring theme for many comics this Fringe in his hands they are so well done. It is often said that Robins does his best work when he isn't in a great place personally as anyone who saw his Edinburgh Comedy Award winning 'The Darkness of Robins' can attest.

Whilst this show isn't quite at those levels (yet) it delivers so much more than a standard work in progress, there is little in the way of reading from notes and scribbling if something doesn't work. Only once does he forget a small section of the show which - when he realises - he explains would make something pretty dark sounding sound slightly less dark, however this is dealt with humorously and people are soon laughing about it. I imagine it did nothing for his anxiety though, which ultimately can only bode well for us, as it will mean him producing more great comedy!

As mentioned the entire run is sold out at the Fringe but once this show progresses from WIP to work expect it to be selling out large venues around the country and we would urge you to give it a look.