Christopher Bliss @ Pleasance Dome

I Spy... a really charming hour from Shropshire born novelist, and now playwright, Christopher Bliss (Rob Carter’s alter-ego). It’s not quite a play that goes wrong, but a cleverly constructed farce which on surface level acts as the worst play in the world. With the assistance of his next-door neighbour (one of the most splendidly dumb performances of the Fringe) and the best actor in the village, Bliss decides to take his work on tour to the Fringe.

There are patches when the villain of the piece’s awful American accent grates a little. There could also be more extravagant twists, but then the low risks somehow continue to build charm. In fact, I Spy is almost a pantomimic affair, with the audience encouraged to exclaim “Ruddy Hell!” to any plot twist, and finding the naughtiest villager in the room isn’t too far off inviting children on stage to ask when their birthday is. The parochial language used is so hilariously clumsy and inoffensive (“go hoover your brain out”) and using “I need the toilet” as an excuse to leave the stage highlights Carter’s excellent ear for dire dialogue.

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I Spy with my Little Eye Something Beginning with Why have you been Sleeping with My Wife: A Play by Christopher Bliss, Pleasance Dome (10 Dome), 1-26 Aug (not 25), 7:00pm, £7-13

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