THE RECEPTIONISTS Physical odyssey of fun 0000
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the pain is all our gain as the piece tollows two receptionists trying to find out why they have taken the hlarne tor the illegal collapse of the company they work tor. What follows is a rili;int;rsmagorrcal venture in trrne and space With characters popping in such as a singing Cher and a cheese and onion crisi)-sp|uttering saddo. And Just in case you think the yorceover is recognisable. well done. it's JOSIe lawrence. (Brian Donaldson) I P/easanre Courtirrrrd 5:36 (5:350. (NW .338 Aug}. 33.20pm. 5‘8..‘3()——.“960 (Ff-APB).
DUTCH ELM CONSERVATOIRE
Jail japes from former Perrier nominees 0.00
In Detention Facility -‘. t, the lags have it too good. They'xe not heen lliSPtX‘ltT‘tI for some time. and Governor Duncan ~r who spent four hard years at the ltalia Conti school hetore taking on the Job s struts hetween the exercise yard and Death How in hotpants. This idyll is threatened by the airi\.a| et prison inspector Rick Rossoxich. a man so hard he sent hrs kids to school in Beslan.
It's a si|l\ story With characters nicked trom prison lllO‘.'lGS. out the humour is creature and sharply- delixered by the cast at lixe. They 're tine actors — it a little too keen to step out of Character and make self-
28 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE “1..
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chemistrj, is sur n that what feels hilarious in the show no.2 st unis a is? stupid written don/n, (3r: see instead lRohrn Lee;
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PHIL KAY
Freewheeling into ecstasy 0000
In written words alone. it's dittirtult to do Justice to Phil Kay's adlihhinr; ahilrty. At their height the wild. childlike performers transports of |llll)l()‘.’l‘;£til()ll hecome things of comic lJeauty He might as well have a shor't‘nrax‘e receiver in his head. twiddlrnr; tne dials to pick up random hroadr‘asts and arranging them in an order which your laughing apparatus. it no other part of you. is convrnced makes pertect sense.
There is. for what it’s worth. a modicum of structure in his act this year. llavrng moved to a seaside town on ‘the left shoulder of Scotland he is full of the Joys of rural ering. of cycling into and out of love. of instilling his kids With the spirit of philosophical inquiry in order to shut them up. As always, what little narrative propulsion exrsts deters unconrlitionally to the bearded den/rsh's ecstatic hahhle. If you're content With lite-attirmingly etteryescent comedy. Kay is a sheer gift. rSam Healyi I Gilded Balloon TOV/Of. (568 7633. until 28 Aug {not 27/. 70. lSp/ri,
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BILL BAILEY
Musical madness and Bush-baiting 00
A big part of Bill Bailey‘s appeal down the years is that he has always slapped on a look of bemused befuddleness, as though he really wasn’t sure where he was or why he was there in the first place. As if to scythe this notion down as quickly as it was raised, Bailey‘s stand-up act was a razor sharp thesis of the absurd, his musical expertise wielded to technical and hilarious effect and his skewed observations taking on an other- worldly aesthetic while still remembering to be infectiously funny.
Now though, his life-force has clearly slowed up (drained perhaps by stage work and telly) and while he grasps at earlier glories (yes, he does throw in a bit of Chas and Dave), he is a pale imitation of the man who stormed the Fringe in 1996 only to be horribly denied the Perrier by the man who later would become a business associate, Dylan Moran.
While Bailey‘s abilities are more or less intact and he insists that it is other people rather than he who has changed, his material on George Bush, animal rights and ‘young people’ is half-baked and desperately jaded, something that an earlier, fresher Bill would have chucked out at the first draft stage. He seems most at home when hunched over his keyboard, that untameable mane flapping around his face as he spoofs the EastEnders theme tune or Star Wars riffs. The man who claims to be part troll is now only half funny. (Brian Donaldson)
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