Is anyone out there from Andorra? Djibouti? Myanmar? Alex Horne and Owen Powell would like to hear from you. These two intrepid supergeeks have given themselves a year to meet someone in London from all 192 countries recognised by the UN. With a month left they have 41 countries to go and need your help.
World In One City is not so much a comedy show as an exercise in listmaking anal retentiveness. Or as Horne, the Oyster Card Phileas Fogg to Powell's laptop Passepartout, says, "part sociopolitical experiment, part bit of a laugh". There is the serious aim of showing how cosmopolitan the capital is, but the duo have clearly enjoyed unearthing stories that are variously moving, funny and downright bizarre.
Among the highlights last night, we heard about the ex-KGB rocket scientist from Kazakhstan and the former refugee from Sarajevo who has just bought a fancy pad in Primrose Hill. Life in London's melting pot is full of surprises. Imagine a nerdy comedic version of Stephen Frears's Dirty Pretty Things spliced into a Michael Palin travelogue.
The case studies are sometimes a little superficial, probably because there are lots to cover. A ludicrous clip featuring newsreader George Alagiah, a quiz and the inevitable graphs keep the story- so- far format moving, although there was a disappointing absence of every statistician's favourite, the Venn diagram.
If you have zero interest in your fellow man, this will leave you cold. But if you are partial to a curious fact, this will be right up your neighbourhood. And if you know someone from Andorra, Djbouti or Myanmar or 38 other missing countries you can become part of the project yourself by contacting Horne and Powell via the website below.
Mondays until 22 Oct (0870 429 6883, worldinonecity.blogspot.com.
Alex Horne & Owen Powell: The World In One City
Soho Theatre
Dean Street, W1D 3NE
