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Punt & Dennis: Stuff And Nonsense

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Beck Theatre
Grange Road, UB3 2UE

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Description: The BBC Radio 4 regulars, formerly one half of The Mary Whitehouse Experience, explore the notion of Britishness.


Trains: BR: Hayes & Harlington Overground network

Phone: 0208561 8371
Website: www.becktheatre.org.uk
Email: enquiries@becktheatre.org.uk

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Punt and irritating

By Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard  04.04.07
 
Double act: Steve Punt plays it straight while Hugh Dennis is simply irritating

Double act: Steve Punt plays it straight while Hugh Dennis is simply irritating

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Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis have been cruelly dubbed a double act with two straight men by my colleague Victor Lewis-Smith.

Eric Idle lookalike Punt certainly plays it straight, but Hugh Dennis is no straight man, he is simply the most irritating performer I've ever seen.

While Punt delivers lightly satirical lines on everything from word-mangling commentators to royal protocol ("Why does the Queen wear gloves? To avoid detection") Dennis adds umpteen tedious visual punchlines.

He does a neat velociraptor impression, then promptly overuses it.

At times last night Dennis was so distracting it was easy to miss some of the better gags, of which there were plenty. Things started well with a list of prizes on offer, including a "satnav system provided by the Iranian navy" and the first half ended with a witty ditty about villages being colonised by supermarkets.

After the interval, however, the momentum plummeted. A news spoof was weak and a promising theme exploring Britishness was barely followed through.

This was only the second night on tour, so maybe things will improve. At its best this is clever stuff, but it would be far cleverer without the jumped-up office joker.

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Reader reviews (2)

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Disagree really strongly with the review above - Punt and Dennis's tour was really funny, very well thought out and I had a fantastic evening!

- S Grant, Canterbury

Punt and Dennis are a hilarious double act that entertain an audience easily maintaining the laughter so easily established at the beggining.

Whilst Punt provides satirical comedy that involves an audience of any age, Dennis lightens the atmosphere with his incrediby life like immitations of everything from a velociraptor to the German 'bird flu' swan "that felt grotty" and dive-bombed Britain. These impressions add to the effect of the show and give some unforgettable memories.

Other themes running through the play included brid flu, the BBC, nursery rhymes and Tesco. Intruiged?

The show was witty, fast paced and clever with few weak spots. At times Dennis would get a little carried away playing to the audience by reperforming some of his previous impressions however this encouraged the audience and stimulated them. Despite this the show ran fluently and left the audience extremely satisfied for the under-priced show (£14, £12).

I saw the tour at the Corn Exchange in Newbury, which is fitted with GPS navigation so that any mobile phone users can be". Well, you'll have to find out for yourself. Just don't go to watch it in Croydon...

- B Sutcliffe, Newbury, Berks, UK


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