An Evening with Ben Dover: Innocent Until Proven Filthy

Britain's foremost pornographer arrives for his show armed and ready. Bounding up the centre aisle wielding a video camera, the crowd visibly recoils at the thought of some unplanned audience interaction. Alas, it is not to be. The handicam spends most of the show perched on a be-toweled chair, leering silently at the front row. The fleeting tension disappears and the mood relaxes.

It stays this way for the remainder of the performance. Despite the big-name billing of a dubious industry's few instantly-recognisable names, there really is very little to shock here. A veteran of more than 250 porn films, 'The Adult Industry's Leading Innovator' has some thoroughly disgusting anecdotes. But voyeurs looking to affirm their suspicions, moral or sexual, into the skin business will be left unsated. By the end of the first thirty minutes the audience, barely half-full, laughs along to Dover's fleshy tales without caution.

The second half of “Innocent Until Proven Filthy” is more traditional stand-up fare, and the weaker for it. He muses on wanking, riffs on gender and dips into taboo in way that will be undoubtedly familiar to Fringe-goers. Dover employs a breathless style - darting about the stage, fiddling nervously with his belt and frequently pausing for breath or a sip of water. Easygoing and likable, he presents an undeniably charismatic figure. Those looking for something a little different will be well-rewarded ambling into the Underbelly to catch the 'King of the Money Shot' in full flow.