list.co.uk/festival Reviews | FESTIVAL COMEDY
PHIL WANG Exposing bigotry and the naivety of youth ●●●●●
Despite Phil Wang’s insistence that things will get ‘progressively weirder’, this debut instead keeps things nice and safe albeit maintaining a decent level of amusement throughout. He’s not even so sure that he should be up on stage passing down anything approximating wisdom. At 23 years old, his life experience to date amounts to showing an old person a few keyboard shortcuts. The ridiculousness of youth is best summed up
in the figure of Justin Bieber and a crass comment he left in the visitors’ book at the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam. But can our Anti-Hero save us? Probably not, but this self-dubbed ‘feminist creep’ does have some droll observations in his armoury about the funny things bigots say and the institutionalised racism which exists everywhere from the Vatican to the Tardis. Previously part of the ‘stars of the future’ Comedy Zone and a former Chortle Student Comedian of the Year, Wang’s potential is strong. With a couple more Fringe hours under his belt, he should be a genuine force to be reckoned with. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 25 Aug, 5.50pm, £8.50–£10 (£7–£9).
PICK ME UP Slightly lacking sketch fare ●●●●● CHASTITY BUTTERWORTH A versatile and wry character act ●●●●●
This sketch-based comedy features a familiar series of quick-fire, hit-and-miss, random vignettes performed with gusto, here by a cast of four game young chaps. There are sketches involving a playful attempt at GBH on a commuter train, a criminal mastermind rewinding through the scene of a crime to reveal the bits we missed and a king dispensing justice to a flasher by having his extremities removed one by one. Plus there’s a masked and cloaked villain repeating the mistake of marrying, having kids and losing his family to another man – oh, and a skit on the Super Mario Bros.
Although there is some scenario / character repetition, for the most part the sketches neither gel nor contrast well with one another. Lacking structure and any kind of thematic or tonal unity, Pick Me Up feels unfocused and ill-conceived. There’s little to distinguish it as sketch comedy, and it suffers in comparison to other more cleverly conceived shows working in the same format. Still, it does have its moments. Most notably,
several amusing appearances by a malign wasp that performs like a super-pissed character out of a Quentin Tarantino film. (Miles Fielder) ■ Just the Tonic at The Caves, 556 5375, until 25 Aug, 7.40pm, £8–£10 (£6–£8).
Game of Thrones star Gemma Whelan hangs up her breastplate to bring you frisky Victorian governess Chastity Butterworth in this show of allusion and frivolity. An hour in her company is quaint, sugary and suggestive – much like spotted dick. But in this incongruous performance, Chastity isn’t concerned with such domestic affairs; down on her luck and off her frock on uppers, she’s ‘garrotted on poppers’ and has a drug dealer to pay.
When the posh stammering and inexplicable mammary-motioning subside, Chastity is a charming hostess. Whelan is superbly in tune with her audience, teasing and titillating at every opportunity. In a series of video clips, we’re introduced to the randy suitors vying for her affections. Here we see Whelan’s versatility in character comedy, allied to her plain and unpretentious desire to have fun with the show.
There’s many a whimsical ditty included
as Chastity regales us with one-liners, plays and poetry, with Whelan’s wry, flippant style reminiscent of Tim Key. However the commanding flirtatiousness and vivacity make the genre firmly her own. (Rebecca Ross) ■ Assembly Roxy, 623 3030, until 26 Aug, 5.45pm, £9–£10 (£8–£9).
BRIDGET CHRISTIE A very funny and wholly committed hour about feminism ●●●●●
It doesn’t seem that long ago when Bridget Christie was mucking about to little acclaim in dank caves in the guise of Charles II. The world didn’t seem ready for her patience- testing, semi-surrealist fare back then, but only the most callous could fail to take her new show to their hearts.
There’s a strain of fine feminist comedy at this year’s Fringe (The Stand alone have also got strong shows from Nadia Kamil and Mary Bourke) and Christie’s A Bic for Her was inspired by some horrendous acts of misogyny committed by racing driving legend Stirling Moss, sports commentator John Inverdale and, most bizarrely, the makers of a pen specifically designed to fit the female hand.
All of this has helped fuel Christie’s ire, directed here at
the perpetrators via some beautifully crafted and hilariously delivered stand-up. With such weighty subject matter, there is always the danger that it could veer away from comedy towards the polemical. And certainly, when Christie evokes the horrible story of Pakistan schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, shot in the head by the Taliban but who survived to address the UN and relocate to Britain, there’s little humour to be found.
But this is Bridget Christie and a joke will always be rustled up from the darkest recesses. She even announces a call to arms, subtly imploring others to follow her lead with her hands- on campaign to rid supermarkets of lad mags. Not that it’s just the blokes who are ripe for slaughter: one of Thatcher’s most famous speeches is turned on its head while Susan Sarandon is taken down a peg or five for some anti-feminist comments. The resurgence of Christie is a welcome boost to the British comedy landscape and she will surely be considered for a certain prize. (Brian Donaldson) ■ The Stand, 558 7272, until 25 Aug, 11.10am, £10 (£9).
15–26 Aug 2013 THE LIST FESTIVAL 39
N A K U S L D I
I