Patrick Turpin @ Sneaky Pete's, PBH Free Fringe

There is a clear distinction to be made before To Me, You Are Perfect can start proper. Our host draws a line down the middle of the stage: on one side is the performer Patrick Turpin (the prance-around, flower crown-wearing dramatist) and on the other the stand-up comic Patrick Turpin. Hopping from one to the other with the frantic fever of an overly excited kangaroo, Turpin's comedy chops and drama student graduate persona are in full swing. Turpin has found himself to be a somewhat unlucky lover and plans on changing his fortune, possibly with this show. 

Fully aware of his genericisms – he's a 20something middle-class white male comic that is trying to break out into the mainstream – Turpin is fairly relaxed about the whole thing. He has a gifted comedic voice that's still in need of defining, so one wishes he would do more to break out of the stereotype, or play with it enough to be interesting. Some material borders on tedious; jokes about incestuous relationships do little to help the show, but others (a routine about his first freshers' dance at uni springs to mind) help him break the mould that similar acts fall into.

Turpin has more comedic talent on offer than most, so perhaps it's the over-reliance on interacting with pre-recorded material that fails the show – his abilities and stage presence keep the audience absorbed in his shenanigans longer than any voiceover. 

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Patrick Turpin: To Me, You Are Perfect, Sneaky Pete's, 6-28 Aug (not 15), 6.15 pm, PBH Free Fringe