Brian & Roger: A Highly Offensive Play review – podcast duo’s OTT exploits

Menier Chocolate Factory, London
The misadventures of a hapless hero led astray by his false friend are funny but don't quite fill three dimensions

There was a setback last month for this play inspired by a hit podcast when co-writer and performer Harry Peacock dropped out for health reasons. So how does the show fare now it's on its feet? It certainly sends laughter rolling through the aisles, as two middle-aged divorcees - one nice, one nasty - embroil themselves in ever more baroque misadventures. But over two hours, the stage play does strain against the podcast conceit, which is that Brian and Roger communicate only via answerphone messages. One craves character development, which never really comes.

The plot is circular too, in that it recounts a succession of scrapes into which Roger's good nature allows Brian to entangle him. It begins small-scale, as the pair arrange to watch their Avatar DVD in Brian's student digs, then proceeds to outdo itself ever more garishly. Eager-to-please Roger, pining for his family and stony broke, is coerced to take part in a seance in West Ruislip, an Albanian gambling ring in a Wiltshire abattoir, and finally a donkey trek across China disguised as a UN diplomat. All end violently badly for our hapless hero, while false friend Brian makes himself scarce.

Brian & Roger: A Highly Offensive Play is at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London, until 18 December.