Wed 20 Aug 2003

Daniel Hoffman-Gill and Mark Whiteley are a first-class double act. Picture: Rob McDougall

Thick as Thieves

Diane Dubois

SMIRNOFF UNDERBELLY (VENUE 61)

BARRY and Stephen are burglars. They make their entrance to a pounding techno soundtrack, lit only by the beams of their torches. They are a terrifying presence. The cosy kitchen they have broken into looks vulnerable. Then Stephen starts to make tea and a snack. You realise that they are no real threat at all, neither of them being the sharpest tool in the box.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill and Mark Whiteley keep a cracking pace as the two housebreakers. They are a first-class double-act. Author Whiteley has written a great piece of character-led comedy - he must have relished putting these gags down on paper as much as he enjoys bringing his creation to life. Keith Hukin perfectly exploits the many opportunities for clowning and rapid-fire dialogue.

The inept thieves ransack the house looking for loot. Their eyes light on a birdcage. They are appalled that the homeowner has gone on holiday, leaving the budgie to die. A morality emerges that is decidedly at odds with the robbers’ chosen profession.

What the thieves find in the next room takes their mind off the budgie. First, however, there is banter about Carole Vordermann, Jeffrey Archer and what life might have been like in Victorian times. A game of charades takes them through every great macho gangster ever committed to celluloid. We notice a considerable gap between these glamorous ideals and the hapless reality.

This show may not have anything profound to tell us about the human condition, but it tickled my funny bone. If you find the spectacle of two grown men effing and blinding and acting daft amusing, then you will be similarly entertained.

• 2:50pm today. Until 24 August