For Your Delectation.. The Penny Dreadfuls: January 2006

testing flickr gallery

What's going on here, then?

The Penny Dreadful's website is filled with many wonders and delights.

In the column on the left (where your noble eyes rest at this moment) witness the world's first steam-powered electric journal as it documents our exploits as they unfold throughout August. It's a blog - a kind of collective diary where the entire production team and cast can contribute.

To the right and above, copious links to finely wrought information about our shows and the gentlemen (and gentlewomen) of The Penny Dreadfuls.

Check back often for fresh news and updates, or subscribe via your news-reader of choice with new-fangled RSS. Why not leave a comment and join our electronic escapades?

past productions

Aeneas Faversham: A Victorian Comedy Sketch Show
Click here for media attention on Aeneas Faversham.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2007, 2nd - 26th August, The Underbelly.
Headlining at Big Chuckles in Little Venice, 1st April, 6.30pm, Canal Cafe Theatre, London.
BBC Radio Theatre, 28th March 2007, 7.45pm, London.
The Glasgow Comedy Festival, 19th & 20th March 2007, 9pm, Brel.
Aeneas Faversham: The Edinburgh Jaunt, 18th March 2007, 7.30pm, Bedlam Theatre
Sketch Night hosted by Durham Review, 4th March 2007, 7.30pm.
Aeneas Faversham: The Continuing Adventures, 25th & 26th February 2007, 7.45pm, Pleasance Islington, London.
The Leicester Comedy Festival final Gala Show, 18th February 2007, The Phoenix.
The Leicester Comedy Festival show, 17th February 2007, Bambu.
The Aeneas Faversham Christmas Special, Matinee performances: 16th & 17th December 2006, 3pm, Canal Cafe Theatre, London.
The Aeneas Faversham Christmas Special: Scotland Edition, 9pm, 12th December 2006, Byre Theatre, St Andrews, Scotland.
BBC Children in Need at the Shepherds Bush Empire, 14th November 2006, 7.30pm, London.
Sunday Special: Headline Act, 12th November 2006, 8.30pm, Up the Creek, London.
The Canal Cafe London Show, Tuesday 24th October 2006, 7.30pm, Canal Cafe Theatre, Paddington.
Hen and Chickens London Show, 24th & 25th September 2006, 7.30pm, Hen and Chickens Theatre, Islington, London.
Post Fringe Edinburgh Show, 16th September 2006, Bedlam Theatre, 11b Bristo Place, Edinburgh.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 3rd-28th August 2006, The Smirnoff Underbelly.
London Preview, 8th & 9th July 2006, The Etcetera Theatre, Camden High Street.
The G66 Live Festival, 17th June 2006, St Mary's Parish Church Hall, Cowgate, Kirkintilloch.
The Aeneas Faversham Radio Show Spectacular, Saturday 20th May 2006, The Left Bank, Edinburgh.
The Glasgow Comedy Festival, 16th-19th March 2006, Britannia Panopticon, Trongate, Glasgow.
The Hellfire Club, 10th March 2006, Edinburgh.
Aeneas Faversham (first full show) 25th-26th November 2006, Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh.
Guest starring on Rough Cuts, BBC Comedy Unit, 12th October 2005, The Stand Comedy Club, Glasgow.

ShamWagon: A Long-form Improv Comedy Show
Click here for media attention on ShamWagon

The Stand Resident Show, Wednesday 27th June 2006, The Stand Comedy Club, Edinburgh.
Cambridge Ball, Thursday 22nd June, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
The G66 Live Festival, 16th June 2006, Auld Kirk Museum, Kirkintilloch.
ShamWagon vs Blind Mirth Improv Spectacular, 29th April 2006, Byre Theatre, St Andrews.
The Stand Resident Show, 14th March 2006, The Stand Comedy Club, Edinburgh.

ShamWagon starred the four Penny Dreadfuls, as well the two improvisers Idil Sukan and Pete Cameron. For one night (Friday 18th August), the delectable Mike McShane also joined up for Sham-related shennanigans.

Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Missing Plot: an improvised mystery of Sherlock Holmes

Glasgow Comedy Festival, 16th-19th March 2006, Britannia Panopticon, Trongate, Glasgow.
Debut performance, August 2005, Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh.

Lost in Time: a short-lived short-form improv comedy show

Glasgow Comedy Festival, 16th-19th March 2006, Britannia Panopticon, Trongate, Glasgow.

Click here for an archive of Penny Dreadfuls' publicity materials and design since November 2005.

full text of reviews for aeneas faversham

***** Edinburgh Evening News, Friday 25 August 2006
Martin Lennon

DON'T worry if you couldn't get tickets to see Aeneas Faversham. Chances are that it will be snapped up for a TV series when the Fringe finishes.

Owing a great deal to Monty Python for their style and to Michael Palin's Ripping Yarns in particular for the conceit - a sketch show set in Victorian times - The Penny Dreadfuls team consistently and constantly had the audience in hysterics.

Their timing was faultless and the absurdist, often displaced material, nodding occasionally to Milligan and the Pythons, was refreshingly original.

The quartet, dressed in morning coats with red cravats, ran through a wealth of characters including the terrifying Horatio T Station - the Station Master, a cowardly Boer war captain, and a Russian circus performer who proclaimed earnestly that "tea is coffee's bitch".

You'll be in debt to the Victorians for the rest of your life, if you actually get in to see it.

***** British Theatre Guide, August 2006
Rachel Lynn Brody

Aeneas Faversham is one of those magical Fringe treats that sneaks up on you from nowhere only to catapult it into your list of 'top ten Fringe experiences ever.'

I was having a beer and catching up on some work when a frizzy-haired blonde with heavy eye makeup came up to me and inquired if I was busy at six. Normally, I scowl at these kinds of intrusions - after all, I'm already booked into a half dozen shows a day and it's rare I have the time, let alone the inclination, to add more to the schedule. But something made me nod, and as she passed me a flyer shaped like a Victorian playing card and explained that Aneas Faversham was a cross between Monty Python and the League of Gentlemen, but all done in a Victorian setting, I have to admit - I was skeptical, but sold.

So I trundled along to the press office to arrange my ticket, and twiddled my thumbs for the hour or so till the show began. Upon entering, I decided to throw caution to the wind and took a seat in the front row.

Aspirational as the frizzy-haired girl's classification of the show had seemed, it soon became clear that the Penny Dreadfuls in every way lived up to her hype. It was like watching a live-action book of short stories by Edward Gorey and Lemony Snickett. Perfect.

The sketches, which range from secret society birthday parties to vampire hunter lectures to not-quite-so-barren wives putting up with their repressed husbands, never go on too long, and always hit the right comedic note. Locals who frequent thte Stand Comedy Club may recognize Jamie Anderson, as charming in a wasitcoat and cravat as when putting down hecklers at a Monday night Red Raw.

I would happily have sat through another hour of these sketches, and if there had been a DVD for sale as we left I would have snatched out my Switch card to buy it. As it was, I proudly wore my complimentary 'not a vampire' badge for a good hour after leaving the theatre, and explained where I'd got it to multiple staff members at the other venues I visited over the night.

The best performances leave you wanting more, and the end of this hour of mirth is truly a heartbreaking thing. In fact, my only complaint about Aneas Faversham is that it ends. On a scale of one to five stars, this show deserves at least seven. Sadly, I don't think I'm allowed to give that many, so I'll settle for five and telling every person I know about this hysterical and well-crafted Victorian sketch comedy.

A quick read-through of their press release informs me that the Penny Dreadfuls have been performing Aneas Faversham for quite some time now, and apparently already made an impression with the BBC's comedy unit and in London. One can only hope that means we'll be seeing a lot more of this understated, over-the-top troupe's peculiar brand of theatrical curiosities in the years to come.

***** Broadway Baby, August 2006

Penny Dreadfuls are a comedy troupe with a difference – all of the sketches are set in Victorian England. One might expect the joke to wear a bit thin in this hour long show, but their ingenuity and quirky take on perceived cliché’s of that era is constantly surprising and consequently consistently very funny.

Like all classic comedy combinations they’ve also got the physical blend right – four very different types. Humphrey Ker, for example, often seemed to be about ten feet tall under the low ceiling of this space. The other three players, Dave Reed, Thom Tuck and Jamie Anderson each bring something different to the party, and all four display an unbelievable array of accents (there’s actually a sketch equating regional accents with insanity) and tremendous acting versatility.

The sketches for the most part come fast and furious (the Victorian children’s entertainer who reduces the kids to tears is inspired), only a couple slightly outstaying their welcome. Even here they seemed to playing with the genre. The beautifully played scenario where a husband refuses to discuss having a baby with his wife because, he informs her, she is barren, looks like it’s going to end on a weak punch line several times as the lights begin to fade. But they keep coming up again and again until it is obvious it is he who isn’t interested in copulating by which time the lady in question got a huge, sympathetic “aaaahhh” from the audience.

In fact, finding an “out” from a sketch is often the hardest bit. Even the geniuses of Python often resorted to the “this sketch is too silly” way out. Spike Milligan’s sketches often ended with him shuffling off the stage or screen saying “what do we do now…”. Penny Dreadfuls’ sketches are very clever and funny, and almost always end on the biggest laugh of the scene. I’ve been wandering around saying “Tea is the bitch of coffee” in a Russian accent for days. Go and see the show, you’ll see why!

***** Three Weeks, August 2006

Rarely is a sketch show laugh-out-loud funny in every single scene, but the Penny Dreadfuls are the definite exception to this widely established rule - with each scene more stupid and more comical than the last. From treating patients who are suffering from “regional accents” to proclaiming that “tea is coffee’s bitch!”, these guys manage to find jokes in the strangest of subjects. I don’t think I could find a fault in anything that they did – and you even get a free badge! Okay, so they may not be trying to change the world, or make us think, particularly, but let’s be honest, who really wants that at tea-time anyway? This is just a great piece of lightweight fun.

***** Chortle, August 2006
John Fleming

This is a wonderful scripted and strongly acted selection of cod Victorian melodramatic snatches, if that's the word, introduced by the dandyish gentleman explorer Aeneas Faversham

I'm sadly old enough to have been at the Fringe in 1981 and seen that year's Cambridge Footlights revue which included Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Tony Slattery. I remember Fry and Thompson being good but raw; the others were fairly innocuous. Yet the talented team behind Aeneas Faversham team, The Penny Dreadfuls, are far more developed as both writers and performers.

I spy a straight-to-BBC Two TV series and two years of fame – and then who knows what? The four-man cast of Jamie Anderson, Humphrey Ker, Dave Reed and Thom Tuck come fully-fledged with charisma, talent, an impressive range of accents and sharp characterisations. Production-wise, they have stark stage lighting and a strong soundtrack to add to the atmospheric ambience. They even have the one who is as tall as John Cleese and the one who darts around like Michael Palin.

They haven't missed a trick in this enchanting portrait of bad children's entertainers, vampire hunting, 'barren' wives and various evocative slices of Victoriana. This is only one of four shows that The Penny Dreadfuls, who come from an improv background, have developed. They are frighteningly professional, and streets ahead of any competitors.

**** The Scotsman, Tuesday 22nd August 2006
Roger Cox

THEY were a funny lot, the Victorians - a fact not lost on the writers of this sketch show, who milk the foibles of their pompous, starchy forbears for all they're worth. Jamie Anderson, Humphrey Ker, David Reed and Thom Tuck - all former members of the Edinburgh University improv comedy troupe the Improverts - have crafted an absolute winner of a show here, and what's more they are all strong enough performers to make their material sparkle.

The opening skit - in which a man trying to get a train to Bath to see his aunt is constantly frustrated by a sinister station master - is far from the best thing here, but be patient: things get much, much better.

The comedic bar is raised considerably by a scene in which a former soldier, Captain Dawlish, is visited by a series of people from his past, all of them out to exact revenge for crimes and betrayals committed in the field. The stand-out vignette, however, is a terrifying children's birthday party presided over by a full-on fire-and-brimstone vicar who reduces the birthday boy and his brother to little piles of blubbering goo with his bellowed threats of hell and eternal damnation.

Elsewhere there are plenty of beautifully observed details to enjoy, including a duel soundtracked by one of the cast members banging two forks together and a lip-bitingly good take on Captain Oates's "I am just going outside and may be some time" sacrifice during Scott's ill-fated expedition to the South Pole in 1912. (OK, so Queen Victoria was long dead by then, but everyone still spoke like Victorians.)

The acting is excellent throughout - controlled and confident - but what is really striking about this quartet is their effortlessly excellent diction. Given the state of radio comedy these days - and I'm thinking of Radio 4 in particular here - somebody somewhere should get these guys on the airwaves, pronto.

**** The Skinny, Tuesday 15th August 2006
Michael Duffy

The absurd logic of the Victorian psyche is superbly sourced in this bright sketch show by the players of The Penny Dreadfuls. Gravediggers and crooked surgeons, Yorkshire vampire hunters, puritanical clowns and camp, duelling city gents are all on stage for this Gothic dance around Dickensian Britain. The kinship between the four players is delightful and reminiscent of the troupe in the Mahwaff Theatre Company’s Angry Young Man from last year’s Fringe. Humphrey Ker, a prototype John Cleese, begins proceedings by channelling his talent into Horatio T Station, a coach master for whom Woking is an essential destination. Indeed the humour in part stems from such a lofty man performing next to his counterparts under the shallow roof of the Belly Dancer theatre.

The zaniness of The Goon Show and Python seeps through the sketches, from the "brilliant" Sherlock sleuth to the ex-colonial army captain who tells his vengeful soldiers: “I gave you the order to retreat, or at least I led by example.”

The show is not entirely consistent. Some sketches peter out rather than crescendo, though this is more due to a deviation in comic timing as opposed to a paucity of material. For while this production sometimes falters from the pedestal of nonsensical, gleeful amusement, seldom does it not land on the pyre of clever entertainment.

**** One4Review.com, August 2006

Sketch comedy shows are found by the hundreds during the Edinburgh Fringe and everyone is looking for an angle or slightly different hook.

The Penny Dreadfuls seem to have done this successfully. Jamie Anderson, Humphrey Ker, Dave Reed and Thom Tuck all individually have an average of five or more years experience in stand-up, together they are The Penny Dreadfuls. They present 'Aeneas Faversham' which is billed as "A Victorian Sketch Comedy Show". The show has been shown in both Edinburgh and Glasgow since last year and has recently previewed in London.

These dapper, waist-coated dandy's perform a variety of glimpses into Victoriana. Characters so wide ranging it would be difficult to catagorise them. Although the show could not be described as manic the gags come fairly steadily and are passed in such a way the energy is maintained throughout. Well written and beautifully performed.

For something slightly different this show comes highly recommended.

The Stage, Wednesday 9th August 2006
William McEvoy

Vampire hunters from Whitby, the gothic terrors of Bath and gender bending grave robbers are just some of the sketches in this energetic take on Victorian melodrama and Sherlock Holmes mysteries.

The Penny Dreadfuls certainly look the part with their red cravats and black morning suits and their sketches give an absurd and surreal twist to the gloomy netherworld of the Victorian imagination. Stark lighting casts long shadows and the maniacal laughter of moustache-twiddling villains is never far away.

The performers create a gallery of stock character types ranging from duelling young bucks to gay aristocrats. Bathos is one of their best tactics, pricking Victorian bombast with a cleverly timed 21st century rejoinder. Some witty parodies of physical theatre add an extra layer to their consistently inventive and off the wall-skits.

The show reveals how much Conan Doyle, Jack the Ripper, Dr Crippen et al have wormed their way into our subconscious but also how much has changed since then. The Penny Dreadfuls clearly love all the dour reverends, serial poisoners and bumbling policemen of the Victorian psyche and this highly amusing show is right at home in the sublime gloom of Edinburgh’s Underbelly.

BIO: Thom Tuck

Thom has improvised with the Edinburgh-based improvised comedy troupe The Improverts for the last four years. In tandem he has concentrated very much on acting and has toured his one-man Scaramouche Jones around the UK (including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe) to much critical acclaim ("A performance you'll treasure" ***** - EdinburghGuide, "A tour de force" - Sunday Times).

He has played Jon in Like Skinnydipping (which was taken to the National Student Drama Festival 03 where it won Sunday Times Best New Play 03, Directors' Guild Award 03, and NSDF Technical Achievement Award 03) and Jesus/God in The Mystery Plays.

His acting has been commended by the National Student Drama Festival twice. He has directed a further five productions (Christie in Love, A Slight Ache, Sore Throats, Built of Strange Bricks and Bermuda). He has also co-written a trilogy of pantomimes and a one act play 'Crab Nebula' with David.

Click here for press images.

BIO: David Reed

David has performed improvised comedy for the last five years with every Edinburgh-based improv troupe: Comic Book Story, with The Stand Players, The Improverts, and 'Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?'. He also directed The Improverts for two years.

He has appeared with John Hegley in his Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2005 show Uncut Confetti.

David has starred in lead roles in many dramatic productions in Edinburgh such as The Country Wife, Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, Victory, The Creation of the World and Noises Off.

David has co-written the one-act play The Crab Nebula with Thom, an adaptation of Eric Chevillard's post-modern novel and a trilogy of pantomimes with Thom, and has co-written other projects including the musical Thin Walls.

He has appeared as an extra on popular Scottish kids' show 'Balamory' and Richard Jobson's 'A Woman in Winter'.

Click here for press images.

BIO: Humphrey Ker

Humphrey has been performing improvised comedy in Edinburgh and Glasgow since 2001 with The Improverts, The Stand Players & 'Whose Lunch is it Anyway?'.

He performed as one third of sketch troupe The Lost and Lonely Rebels at the 2004 & 2005 Edinburgh Fringes ("A touch of the Pythons" **** - The Independent).

He has starred in various dramatic productions such as 'Macbeth', 'Richard III', 'One for the Road', 'The Pirates of Penzance' and two pantomimes.

Click here for press images.

BIO: Jamie Anderson

Jamie has performed stand-up comedy since 2003 and now comperes regularly in Glasgow and Edinburgh, mainly at The Stand Comedy Clubs.

He has also performed in improvised comedy shows Comedy Question Time 503, Maestro and Coming - Ready Or Not, mainly working with The Spontaneity Shop in London. In Edinburgh he has performed with Comic Book Story, Whose Lunch Is It Anyway? and with The Improverts in Edinburgh which he also directed.

He has recently returned from a tour of improv workshops round Chicago and New York with Humphrey.

He ran a sweetie shop from 2001 - 2003. 50% of customer interaction was scripted.

Click here for press images.

AENEAS FAVERSHAM

Aeneas Faversham recently performed to rave reviews at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, previewing at the Etcetera Theatre in London and running for the full three weeks at the Underbelly (Belly Dancer) in Edinburgh.

The show is now touring around fantastic comedy venues in London including the Canal Cafe Theatre, the Hen and Chickens Theatre, Up the Creek & the Shepherds Bush Empire. Early 2007 bookings include performances at the Pleasance Islington in London and at Brel in Glasgow as part of the Glasgow Comedy Festival.

Follow dashing gentleman explorer, sword-for-hire and noted wit Aeneas Faversham as he guides you on a tour of the trials and tribulations of his beloved dark and twisted Victorian world. A show of sketches, occurrences and curious happenstance of graverobbing, exploration and the protection of the British Empire.

Aeneas Faversham is written and performed by The Penny Dreadfuls, four gentlemen performers better known as Jamie Anderson, Humphrey Ker, David Reed and Thom Tuck: four dashing charm-laden gents.

Please click here for a comprehensive gig list.

For further information on Aeneas Faversham and The Penny Dreadfuls, click for Press, Company Contact Details - or contact our production manager Idil Sukan:

Press & Management Enquiries: Idil Sukan
idilsukan@gmail.com
0798 403 7417

If you are logged into the myspace and facebook online community networks, then more information on the Penny Dreadfuls can be seen via
Our delightful Victorian myspace page
And our thriving I Believe in Eskimos" Facebook group.

Oh, and why not explore our frequently updated Flickr photo pool?

critical praise for shamwagon

Here's a round-up of reviews for the Penny Dreadfuls' production ShamWagon during the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival:

**** Three Weeks

"This group of whip-smart performers have a great deal of fun with long-form improvisation, in which a word or two from the audience is enough to send them off into an elaborate series of loosely connected scenes. The young comedians riff off each other with ease...

**** SkinnyFest

ShamWagon take the crowd's suggestions and run all the way to funnyland. The cross the canals of hilarity, climb the mountains of ridiculousness, jump the hahas of the hysterical.

It comes down, of course, to the troupe: they are loose, inspired, and they snatch every opportunity they spy... While only one woman numbers among them, there's no lack of variety in ShamWagon's cast: the short and schizoid one, the creepy black-humoured one, the sharp and middle aged one, the lanky one who plays dumb. The marvel is how well they work together, throwing themselves into the silly and the gut-busting with a beautiful skull-cracked ease.

ITV.com

"Ker and his compatriots possess a seemingly inexhaustible energy and enthusiasm alongside some very sharp, very funny minds. The show takes a but two words from the audience and squeezes a jam-packed fifty-five minutes of comedy into the world and the world is better for it.

Individual praise is totally counterproductive thanks to the sheer quality of the performers."

The Stage

"With the six comedians only having each other’s material to feed off, this does open up the danger of ending up down a comedic cul-de-sac. Which, thanks to the cast’s strongly inventive imaginations, does not happen too often."

Featured as one of the Five Festival Highlights - "Improvisation from talented young comic actors" - in The Times (August 15th, 2006) alongside Lizzie Roper, Boothby Graffoe, The Wilson Dixon Hour and Jason Byrne.

PRESS

All Press Enquiries: Idil Sukan
idilsukan@gmail.com
0798 403 7417

Aeneas Faversham

Canal Cafe, London, 24 October 2006 Press Release
(168K, pdf, right click to save)
Hen & Chickens, London, 24 & 25 September 2006 Press Release
(110K, pdf, right click to save)
Underbelly, Edinburgh, Fringe Festival, August 2006 Press Release
(72K, pdf, right click to save)

The Penny Dreadfuls are the four gentlemen performers: Jamie Anderson, Humphrey Ker, David Reed & Thom Tuck. They write and perform sketch comedy and also perform improvised comedy. Their flagship show is Aeneas Faversham, a Victorian sketch comedy show.

The Penny Dreadfuls as a performance company promotes, publicises, designs all publicity in-house and tour manages the Penny Dreadfuls' shows.

PRESS-READY PHOTOGRAPHS

Clockwise from top: Humphrey Ker, David Reed, Thom Tuck, Jamie Anderson. Photo credit: Neil Hobbs.

Left click on images to preview low-res versions or right click below to download CMYK print versions to your desktop (CMYK versions may not be viewable in your browser).

Group photograph 01 (2010K, jpg, right click to save)
Group photograph 02 (2000K, jpg, right click to save)
Group photograph 03 (1900K, jpg, right click to save)

Left click on images to preview or right click below to download CMYK print versions to your desktop (CMYK versions may not be viewable in your browser).

Jamie Anderson, humourist (1020K, jpg, right click to save)
Humphrey Ker, humourist (1020K, jpg, right click to save)
David Reed, humourist (1020K, jpg, right click to save)
Thom Tuck, humourist (1020K, jpg, right click to save)

Further high resolution photographs available on demand, as are images of other past productions.

BOOK TICKETS

The Penny Dreadfuls are a professional team of experienced performers who can tailor their bespoke style of comedy to almost any occasion.

To explore the possibilities of your very own Dreadful Evening, please contact our production manager, Idil Sukan.

Idil Sukan
idilsukan@gmail.com
0798 403 7417

CONTACT The Penny Dreadfuls

CONTACT THE PENNY DREADFULS

Agents for the Penny Dreadfuls:
Susan Williams at Richard Stone Partnership:
swilliams (at) richstonepart.co.uk - 020 7497 0849

For production, press and touring enquiries, please contact
Idil Sukan:
idil (at) pennydreadfuls.co.uk - 0798 403 7417

For anything to do with the website, please contact our Online Media Manager, Steve Greer
stevie.greer (at) gmail.com

Our Technical Director is Neil Hobbs, if you have any tech related enquiries, please contact
neil (at) notlikecalvin.com

For further details of The Penny Dreadfuls current and past production teams, please click here.

critical acclaim for the penny dreadfuls

Here's a round-up of all of the Penny Dreadfuls' reviews for Aeneas Faversham during the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. For the full text of each review, click here or through to the original websites.

***** Edinburgh Evening News, Friday 25 August 2006, Martin Lennon

The Penny Dreadfuls team consistently and constantly had the audience in hysterics. ... You'll be in debt to the Victorians for the rest of your life, if you actually get in to see it.

***** British Theatre Guide, August 2006, Rachel Lynn Brody

Aeneas Faversham is one of those magical Fringe treats that sneaks up on you from nowhere only to catapult it into your list of 'top ten Fringe experiences ever.' ...In fact, my only complaint about Aneas Faversham is that it ends.

***** Broadway Baby, August 2006

[C]onstantly surprising and consequently consistently very funny... [A]ll four display an unbelievable array of accents ... and tremendous acting versatility.

***** Three Weeks, August 2006

Rarely is a sketch show laugh-out-loud funny in every single scene, but the Penny Dreadfuls are the definite exception to this widely established rule - with each scene more stupid and more comical than the last. I don’t think I could find a fault in anything that they did.

***** Chortle, August 2006, John Fleming

This is a wonderful scripted and strongly acted selection of cod Victorian melodramatic snatches ... They haven't missed a trick in this enchanting portrait of bad children's entertainers, vampire hunting, 'barren' wives and various evocative slices of Victoriana. ...They are frighteningly professional, and streets ahead of any competitors.

**** The Scotsman, Tuesday 22nd August 2006, Roger Cox

[A]n absolute winner of a show here, and what's more they are all strong enough performers to make their material sparkle. ... Given the state of radio comedy these days - and I'm thinking of Radio 4 in particular here - somebody somewhere should get these guys on the airwaves, pronto.

**** The Skinny, Tuesday 15th August 2006, Michael Duffy

The absurd logic of the Victorian psyche is superbly sourced in this bright sketch show by the players of The Penny Dreadfuls. ... seldom does it not land on the pyre of clever entertainment.

**** One4Review.com, August 2006

These dapper, waist-coated dandy's perform a variety of glimpses into Victoriana [with] characters so wide ranging it would be difficult to catagorise them. ... Well written and beautifully performed.

The Stage, Wednesday 9th August 2006, William McEvoy

Bathos is one of their best tactics, pricking Victorian bombast with a cleverly timed 21st century rejoinder. Some witty parodies of physical theatre add an extra layer to their consistently inventive and off the wall-skits. [A] highly amusing show.

Penny Playing Cards

The Penny Dreadfuls fliers are no ordinary, flimsy disposables. Individually designed by our intrepid producer Idil, each forms one part of a full deck of gorgeous and highly collectable cards.