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.