Mick Sergeant: Mid-life Crisis - Live!

Lee Fenwick's alter-ego, unemployed Geordie shipbuilder Mick Sergeant, has been a hit at previous Fringes. Mixing dark humour with genuine sadness, he is the perfect character to explore these dark post-credit crunch times. Yet this show, like Sergeant, isn't working.

Sergeant is a heartbreaking character. Before he can even face the audience he has to psych himself up in the mirror, only to be deflated again when Big Society phones him to say he's a lazy, work-shy bastard. The sheer unfairness of Sergeant's situation, as well as society's rotten treatment of the unemployed, are explored with enough intelligence and insight to melt the heart of the cruellest Mail reader.

The problem with this particular Sergeant show is that the tragedy is strangling the comedy. Some individual scenes have the perfect balance, such as when he invites audience members to interview for the position of biscuit taster. The winner gets a biscuit; the loser gets abuse for being a layabout benefit cheat. Few other moments manage to get laughs while provoking thoughts.

Fenwick has the makings of another masterpiece here and, to be fair, this review is from the first day. It will undoubtedly improve over the course of the Fringe, but there is a lot of work to be done.