MAGGIE Fox and Sue Ryding, like many famous comedy teams met at university as drama students and after finding common ground in their aspirations went on to form Lipservice in 1985.

Review

Jane Bond Lipservice

New Wolsey Theatre.

MAGGIE Fox and Sue Ryding, like many famous comedy teams met at university as drama students and after finding common ground in their aspirations went on to form Lipservice in 1985.

Jane Bond is their fifteenth production and so I was expecting an extremely tight and polished performance. I'm afraid I was left disappointed.

There is so much material to be found for a spoof of James Bond - and in the first ten minutes it seemed as though the girls were going to be spot on - the opening scene as Jane confronted a notorious foreign assassin in a little known Russian republic was full of good one liners.

However, after that the pace seemed to drop and the comedy count fell off as well.

There is no doubt the girls are talented, and there were a number of genuinely funny moments but it all just seemed a little slow - and some of the visual gags rather clumsy.

There were some highlights - notably the early shadow sequence that mimicked the opening credits in the movies, and the very athletic stage double that stood in for Jane's action scenes, but the lack of pace and a rather subdued delivery meant that for me the comedy failed to take off.

Having said that, the kids in the audience seemed to really enjoy it - so maybe I just missed the level and expected something more than it was.

There was certainly nothing offensive - so if you like your comedy family-orientated and fairly undemanding then this is the one for you.

SUSAN HAWKES