What a difference a couple of years makes. In the early Nineties The League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith were pre-eminent performers, taking sketch comedy into hitherto uncharted dark waters. Yet now, on their biggest tour so far, they seem terribly tired, particularly compared with the unstoppable juggernaut of Little Britain.
This undeniably gifted trio, plus nonperforming writer Jeremy Dyson, scooped awards with sophisticated television, yet there are frequent moments in The League of Gentlemen are Behind You when it feels as if this uneven production was penned on a postage stamp. There is little of the grotesquerie that made their TV work outstanding.
The plotting is crude, too. The first half finds theatre group Legz Akimbo, led by Shearsmith's over-pious Ollie Plimsolls, auditioning familiar characters for their right-on Nativity. Yet what follows are not try-outs but skits of varying quality. The only highlights are Shearsmith's cackhanded magician Dean Tavalouris and Gatiss's pop dreamer Les McQueen.
Eventually the "communativity" is conveniently cancelled, freeing the way for the second half 's more straightforward panto parody. Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella and countless other stalwarts collide, with Steve Pemberton's Jobstart tyrant Pauline as the dame and that man Shearsmith again stealing the show as the sinister, blacked-up Papa Lazarou, rebranded Abanazerou.
There are more laughs here, although many of them still come from broad, vulgar set-pieces. The cast seem ridiculously preoccupied with squeezing as much scatological humour as they can into two hours. An audience member even gets streaked with cow dung when accident-prone vet Chinnery (Gatiss) invites them onstage to help with a bovine examination.
Perhaps this was a bad evening on a long tour but last night's show felt unexpectedly underpowered. The energetic execution of umpteen costume changes could not dispel a valedictory air, as if this marked the closing of a chapter.
These skilful creators will surely return with something stronger and stranger, but maybe the end is nigh for Royston Vasey's misfits. Not exactly premier League.
Carling Apollo 1-4, 9, 10 December. Information: 0870 606 3400.
The League Of Gentlemen 'Are Behind You!'
