Scrabble Unscripted is a daring and innovative concept that fans of improvisation comedy will love. A team of five improvisers stand ready to create scenes from a live scrabble game played by a guest comedian and a scrabble champion. Intermittently the host Steve Lynch picks words from the game and the improvisers act them out in short scenes. Some great guest comedians are promised, including Tom Gleeson and Dave Callan.

This concept leans towards comedy that is even less structured than its closest comparison theatresports, and this is both a blessing and a curse for the show. When it works it’s hilarious stuff, bizarre and risqu‚àö?, but when a joke flounders the whole show can potentially grind to a halt. This is of course the nature of improvised comedy, and half the laughs can come from how a comedian deals with a joke that falls flat. And the Scrabble Unscripted cast do a fantastic job, making the most of the scenes that work and plowing through the ones that don’t with admirable self-deprecation and grim resolve.

Each comedian shines at different points in the show, but the real show stealer was Jordan Raskopoulos (‘The Ronnie Jones Half Hour’) whose quick wit and energetic characterisations often rescued a scene from floundering and brought the laughs.

Scrabble Unscripted is a must see show for fans of improvised comedy. It’s free wheeling nature lends it infinite potential and a very good chance of becoming one of the surprise hits of the Festival.