The Gravediggers

There is something very English about mixing the humour of day-to-day rural life with the morbidity of burying the dead, and it provides pretty solid material for this jovial piece of theatre.

The Gravediggers embraces this peculiarly English humour with a storyline that revolves around the trials and tribulations of three men who work laying to rest the flock of the friendly female vicar. Each takes on a familiar role: the gruff gaffer with the heart of gold; the mischievous but sensitive youngster; and the downright crazy, unintelligible old timer. It's a bit like Last of the Summer Wine, but with more shovels.

The young cast don't deliver the most polished performances, but they throw themselves into the production with obvious glee. The gravediggers are well fleshed out by the three leads, and they share a comic timing that helps mask the occasional prop malfunction.

The production is hung on a clever comic script that pushes all the right well-worn buttons. Awkward romance, confused coppers and funny accents may be the standard fare of pastoral comedy, but the audience still laps up the absurd behaviour and snappy banter.

The Gravediggers' take on rural English life rarely deviates from the mould cast by countless sitcoms, but it manages to pull the whole thing off with enough aplomb to keep an audience more than happy. As a gently morbid comedy among the swathes of desperately right-on Fringe productions, it strikes a comforting note among all the doom and gloom.