Have you ever thought you were special? Yeah, you like vanilla ice cream, a chicken korma, and a pint of Stella but you’re still unique, right? Well, what if Great Britain’s (and Belgium’s) largest yoghurt company told you that, in fact, you were the most average, basic, unoriginal man in Britain? Well, this very thing has happened to the unsurprisingly named Joe Smith and he’s been given £20,000 to change that.

Hooked yet? I know I was when I first read the premise. Unfortunately, the premise is the most interesting part of Average Joe. With an elevator pitch that excites so much, it is unfortunate that this production fails to get off the ground.

In a small room in the beautiful Surgeons’ Hall Museum on Nicolson Street in Edinburgh, there is a stage. This stage dominates the small room and, as the actors performed their lines, it strained against the confines of the space. Everything felt cramped. This limitation is typical of Fringe theatre, and whilst some productions attempt to use it to create a feeling of intimacy, Average Joe simply feels tight. A large part of this comes from the unimaginative blocking that leaves the action, which is few and far between, feeling manic and directionless, and the dialogue static and uninteresting.

This is a shame, because often, within these dialogue scenes, the cast was able to produce moments of real quality. From the intense absurdity of Janice and Janet, played by Rose Painter and Toria White respectively, to the punchable, self-satisfied Aaron (Louis George), to the unexpectedly energetic Señor Morales (Macsen Llewelyn)—each performer brought their own comedic touch to the show. One figure I wanted to highlight here is Toria White who, despite her relatively limited material, was always able to get a laugh from the audience.

Its plot is too ambitious for its production and its script too unadventurous for its performers

However, the core of the show was found in the sweet, warm and simple relationship between Joe and Ella Smith. Pulled directly from a book of suburban clichés I feared that their interactions would quickly become trite. I was proved wrong. Amy Mallows as Ella was patient and teasing, Xoan Elsdon’s Joe was bumbling and compassionate. Whilst not a complex relationship, what Mallows has achieved in this script, and as conveyed on stage, is a slice of mundane winsome suburban life and it holds the show together.

Unfortunately, this congenial core could not overcome the production’s continual lack of creativity. Unable to connect its many disparate scenes and locations, relying heavily on blackouts and ring tone length blasts of music, any momentum the performers created was lost in the sound of shoes awkwardly shuffling off stage. However, even in Average Joe’s brightest moments, it is only ever agreeable, unoffensive, and average.

Fundamentally, Average Joe is undercooked. Its plot is too ambitious for its production and its script too unadventurous for its performers. Its premise is truly excellent and with the given time and attention so too would the rest of the show. What needs to change is obvious and difficult, there needs to be more.

The script is shallow, lacking the density of jokes necessary for an hour-long comedy, its staging is uncreative and its performances restrained. Average Joe isn’t bad, it’s just unfinished and without the required content for its runtime and innovation to achieve its script. But Average Joe is worth these changes. In a society where we all strive to be different, and exceptional, where chasing productivity, goals or intrigue leaves us forgetting what is truly important Average Joe celebrates the ordinary, the average. Average Joe shines a light on the beauty of being typical and it’s just a shame that, due to its flaws, that light is only dimly flickering.

Average Joe was showing at Surgeons’ Hall at 11:15am from 22-27 August