League of Gentlemen Live, Birmingham Arena - review

It has been 20 years since the residents of Royston Vasey hit our radios - albeit in the similar town of Spent - and they have been long overdue a return.

And at Birmingham Arena last night, more than 10,000 people got to show the original cast of Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith just how much they'd missed them.

Familiar sketches with fresh twists and a set of new material from after the end of the reunion run of episodes make The League of Gentlemen Live Again a surprising mix that never lets you rest on your expectations.

The TV show was always catchphrase based and the audience lapped up every "hokey cokey pig in a pokey" and "you're my wife now".

But where the League shone was their ability to rarely, if ever, use the catchphrase as a punchline. It was a way to identify the characters and to set the mood for the sketch to come.

It's for that reason that, worryingly, these characters feel so real, despite how ridiculous they are. People aren't just waiting for that popular joke, they're waiting for the next bit of the story to unfold.

And that's true for the live show as well. Although the first act is filled with Royston Vasey characters, the cast wear suits and use only the occasional prop to show who they're playing.

It was a little disappointing that some of the characters couldn't be seen in their fully-costumed glory, but considering how well the special effect-laden second half flows, it's understandable why those decisions were made.

The most popular characters get the treatment they deserve, and the cast are running around like turtles on compressed air between scenes to make it happen.

Other special effects - including the appearance of an ominous looking Local Shop - are also top quality, and the League yet again make full use of stage tricks to surprise and confuse.

None of that would matter if it was just churning out the same old, but the new material works really well, and it has been written in a way where flashbacks can be used to relive older scenes.

But not satisfied with simply saying the familiar lines, the League are very self-aware, drawing attention to the changes, to themselves or their techniques.

It helps, of course, that the cast seem like they're having a fantastic time. One sketch, the return of perverted patriarch Pop, came to a halt more than once thanks to a fit of giggles. The audience loved it.

A lot has changed in the last two decades, and it seems unlikely that something like The League of Gentlemen would be given a shot today.

But packing arenas across the country proves there's still demand for funny people doing funny things - even if it involves a swearing vicar or the string of single-and-a-half entendres that is Herr Lipp.

Britain, now more than ever, feels like a local country for local people - and it's good that some of us are still able to laugh about that.

The sign into the world of The League of Gentlemen reads "Welcome to Royston Vasey - You'll Never Leave!"

And as scary a thought as it is, it's clear we'll never want to.