Darts Wives

A Fringe show with an arrow focus
On paper it's a good idea to move attention from the glitzy if vacuous lives of the footballers' WAGs to the DWAG (the 'D' standing for the more 'working men's club' world of darts). Brought to you by sister comedy double-act Gavin & Gavin, plus friends, we meet our betrothed women (ex-stalker Angel, the abusive Trina, competitive sisters Lorraine and Fay) at a press conference before following them to the World Darts final. The main problem is that, in the main, they opt for easy gags. In the world of professional sports, darts is pretty much the least athletic, so jokes include the pre-match prep of having four pints and a fag and implementing an exercise routine which involves starting to walk to the chip shop.
There are a few nice lines to be found here but, overall, the four are better when they momentarily step out of character: there's a naturalistic drunk routine which sounds less scripted. While this doesn't really work as a Fringe hour, the characters are ripe for expanding into a mid-evening TV vehicle on a mainstream channel.
Assembly Roxy, 623 3030, until 26 Aug (not 12), 4.50pm, £10–£11