A Brief History of Beer is a (barely) glorified drinking game.

Writers/performers Will Glenn and Trish Parry become a pair of time travelers who guide the audience through the history of beer to find out when, exactly, beer became corporatized. Whenever our time machine gets into trouble, they urge audience members to take a drink to refuel the ship—or something.

Glenn and Parry deliver some mildly interesting information: the early history of brewing was dominated by women, for instance. But there’s virtually no wit in the script and Glenn and Parry aren’t particularly skilled; they’re just amiable show-offs.

If you find drinking beer giddily transgressive and you can’t wait for an opportunity to do that in a large group, A Brief History of Beer is the show for you.

 At Performance Works on September 7 (9:15 p.m.), 8 (2 p.m.), 10 (8:20 p.m.), 13 (6:45 p.m.), 14 (5 p.m.), and 16 (12:15 p.m.) Tickets (This review is based on a performance seen at the Victoria Fringe.) > Colin Thomas

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