The Crawl review – madcap swimming comedy performed by synchronised duo

Pleasance Dome, EdinburghAlexander Burnett and Ellie Whittaker dive into multiple roles in a bubbly show with plenty of audience participationThis highly physical comedy about two competitive swimmers begins at the beginning – not with a referee’s whistle but a stand-alone aquatic opus racing through humans’ evolution from fish. In caps, goggles and bathing suits, Alexander Burnett and Ellie Whittaker recount our abiding passion for the water, from the earliest forms of life to Napoleon diving into an especially wet misremembering of Waterloo, and on to an amusing pitch for The Great British Swim-Off. It’s a supremely silly sequence that could even withstand a few more laps of absurdity.The show’s focus, though, is on two contestants going head to head: Meeta (Burnett), drilled for competition since birth, and Steve (Whittaker), rehabilitated from a wayward youth by a newfound love of swimming. (He still has an over-developed right arm from throwing stones.) Meeta emits discipline and icy focus; have-a-go Steve is a bag of nerves, goggle-eyed even without the swim glasses.At Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh, until 25 AugustAll our Edinburgh festival reviews Continue reading...

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