The Three Lions @ Pleasance Courtyard

David Cameron, Prince William and David Beckham walk into a hotel room in Zurich… And that high-concept synopsis is as funny as William Gaminara’s new play gets.

Set the night before England’s bid for the 2018 World Cup in Zurich, with the hopeless trio acting as spokesmen for the country’s effort, the set-up is rife for some sharp political satire or a Three Stooges-style farce. The moment you hear that summary you begin writing the jokes in your head. Instead, the end result is a limp and lazy offering, both painfully predictable and just plain unfunny.

The trio at the centre of this story are broad in both their written characterisation and depictions by the actors. While all three bear a passing resemblance to their public figures, they’re too busy mugging for the cheap seats at the back to even bother with nuances or complexities. It doesn’t help that none of them is given anything beyond the most clichéd motivation: Beckham’s thick, Cameron’s try-hard and William’s out of touch and also a bit thick. Add on a few flippant quips about Nick Clegg being needy, Prince Phillip being racist and Victoria Beckham’s lack of singing talent and you can predict every punch line on your own. Every character seems to be deliberately stupid just to move forward the skeleton of a plot. The offensive inclusion of the term 'retard' in a cheap joke about two characters’ stupidity inspired irritation more than humour, as did the unnecessarily exaggerated depiction of two Indian concierges, whose depictions bordered on racist.

It’s too broad to pack any real punch and just not funny enough to work as absurd farce. That’s not to say there aren’t a few amusing moments, and the audience seemed to enjoy the show far more than your faithful reviewer, but the material was sorely insubstantial.