Medium-strength whimsy with flashes of greatness ...

Sheeps‘ catchphrase “Some brilliant moments” is very apt.

There certainly are some in this sketch troupe’s collection of skits but the self-deprecation does them an injustice: this is a pretty solid hour of medium-strength whimsy with flashes of greatness.

And while the material doesn’t always live up to the talented cast the ideas are nearly always worth seeing. There’s not much in the way of a unifying theme, just the three Sheeps trotting through their odd thoughts. Liam leaves briefly for the south of France and is implicated in the murder of a celebrity but all ends more or less as it began.

Brilliant moments include all the moments that make up the Oliver Twist medley plus the various visitors to the Seventies solid gold hits spinster.

But this show is worth seeing for Splay alone. This tragic figure is my favourite character on the Fringe so far, the same way that Flim-Flam, the horrible octopus from Claudia O'Doherty’s Tales of the Sea, was last year.

Overall, they’re at the weirder end of the sketch spectrum, but aren‘t as strange as near namesake Fringe sketch heroes The Black Sheep. They occupy the same kind of territory as Idiots of Ants, cleverer than Late Night Gimp Fight but without their energy.

And refreshingly for a bunch of young chaps, there’s not too much shouting.

3.5 stars

Sheeps is on at 4.45pm at the Pleasance Courtyard.

Review written by Ben Clover