The Time Machine review

The three-strong cast – Hearn is joined by Amy Revelle and Michael Dylan – is likeable, sharp and witty, and Orla O’Loughlin’s direction is so fast moving that you’re never bored, even when ideas don’t quite work. There’s so much being crammed into the two hours – from sketches referencing EastEnders, The Muppets and Harry and Meghan, to a Cher musical number, plus a Hamlet soliloquy via Withnail and I – that there’s sometimes a fear it may completely collapse underneath all the organised chaos, but it somehow never does.

This is a show where the fourth wall isn’t so much broken as completely smashed, and Hearn is particularly good at interacting with the audience (even ad-libbing a perfectly timed line about one audience member leaving her seat), while Revelle and Dylan bounce off each other, and both shine in some musical set-pieces, including a climatic mash-up of B*Witched’s C’est La Vie and The Importance of Being Earnest.

The second half, at over an hour long, stretches out the joke a bit – it certainly lacks the snap and crackle of the tight 45-minute first act – but the trio is in its element, selecting willing audience volunteers for a sketch involving a date, pizza, portrait painting and a rampaging Morlock. Some may find it too knowingly daft, but for everyone else this is two hours of gloriously silly, unrestrained fun.