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Charing Cross theatre, London
Who shot music hall owner Champagne Charlie backstage at the Empire in the middle of a performance? Was it the conjuror Mephisto, famed for his bullet-catching trick? The giggling Cerberus Sisters, the world's only conjoined triplets? Or could it have been Ray the Blade, the butcher with the trembling hands turned knife thrower? Everyone has a dark past in this Cluedo-style musical by Edinburgh festival fringe favourites Les Enfants Terribles, which boasts a sharp eye for the comically macabre. Its clever twisted gothic style, all skulls beneath the flowers, has the makings of a little fringe cult.
Like some of the Empire's acts themselves, it is uneven, and the narrative is not its strongest point. We are told the back stories of each of the music-hall artists, which demonstrate that they all have a compelling motive for murder. But after a while you do not really care too much, because to a large extent this is an exercise in style – and one carried off with considerable aplomb, capturing all the seediness of backstage life.
At 90 minutes, The Vaudevillains is never in danger of outstaying its welcome, and offers plenty to raise a smile, particularly the stories of Gaston Gasteau, the silent but deadly mime artist, and Albert Frog, whose ventriloquism act with Mr Punchy might be a manifestation of something more sinister. The visual gags are sharp, there are a couple of excellent songs, and the charm is the fact that it is all a little frayed around the edges. Very light stuff, but murderously good fun.
