From the duo's laboured entrance, balancing their way across the stage with the aid of a minuscule step-ladder and a pair of planks, it is evident that fluidity of movement is not going to be a feature of this piece. This would be all well and good if the shambling were, at the very least, to some comic effect. However, this collection of drawn-out gimmicks, which appear to have been cobbled together from theatrical excerpts performed on the street, are rather more trying than entertaining. They left me wishing that, as with street performance, I could stroll on at my leisure, rather than feel condemned to endure over an hour of glorified party tricks in the hope that something truly imaginative might transpire.
The only real skills Stretch People display are hints of some balancing and acrobatic ability, yet these examples are disappointingly few and far between. The series of Hoover-related gags, rather than providing a running theme of any substance, only prove to be a single idea milked for all its possibilities to no innovative end.
If I saw any part of this show performed as a short piece of street theatre, I may have warmed to this pair more charitably. But as one of the few British contributions to an International Mime Festival (with a reputation for presenting acts often of an extraordinary calibre) any vestiges of patriotism I may have possessed swiftly dissolved. As a couple of lads trying desperately to entertain with their rather feeble antics, Stretch People are, at best, momentarily endearing. But the cutting edge of British mime? I hope not.