Comic crusade against crime

Ecclefechan’s one-man law spree returns with a new set with the plaudits from last year’s Fringe having gone straight to Rebus McTaggart’s head. Happily, the same couldn’t be said of character comic Richard Thomson. Presenting a similar premise to the original show, Crimewarrior’s misguided bobby seminar operates on much the same level, if somewhat bluer, with the liaison officer claiming newly developed stage skills and exhibiting wannabe lover-man pretensions.

Thomson’s talent for sharp, deadpan and largely female-orientated audience participation is brought to the fore alongside a wealth of simple, crowd-winning gags and lo-fi prop antics. His utter absorption in the role of the deluded crime-fighter carries you through ham-fisted physical theatre, musical numbers and ventriloquism, and while the flow of the performance arguably suffers for the inclusion of a sole alter ego appearance, this is nevertheless justified in an eye-watering, no-holds-barred Basic Instinct interrogation pastiche. If you only see one policeman’s scrotum this Festival, make it Rebus McTaggart’s.

Mark Edmundson, The List, 16th August 07