list.co.uk/festival Reviews | FESTIVAL COMEDY
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THRONES! THE MUSICAL Enjoyable Game of Thrones musical that has something for most fans ●●●●● SARAH CALLAGHAN: ELEPHANT A disorienting debut that has problems with tone and content ●●●●●
ADAM RICHES IS COACH COACH Over-excitable and profoundly daft tale of a coach’s obsession with victory ●●●●●
It’s rare for a Fringe show about a popular TV programme or cultural icon to satisfy the obsessives’ needs. Only the most easily-pleased Game of Thrones nerd would have revelled in the mess that was last year’s Winter Is Coming. Luckily, Thrones! The Musical from US improv troupe Baby Wants Candy feels like a more accomplished affair. Kicking off with a very neat crowd-pleasing
reference, the cast launch into an opening number about spoilers (is there anyone alive in possession of a screen who doesn’t know about the twists in The Sixth Sense and Usual Suspects?) before getting into the nitty gritty of the show’s ‘catchphrases’ (‘Hodor!’ ‘You know nothing, Jon Snoo’). There are amusing takes on classically disturbing moments such as the Red Wedding and Bran’s attempted murder while, rather fittingly, the scenes featuring Daenerys Targaryen are the least interesting.
George RR Martin crops up to meet and greet his fans (in true Roose Bolton style), and Thrones! might well inspire everyone but the most jaded Westeros completist to go back to the very beginning. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Assembly George Square, 623 3030, until 31 Aug, 5pm, £13–£14 (£12–£13).
Sarah Callaghan has complaints that many an early twentysomething will relate to. Trapped in a social backwater and culturally stifling environment (let’s call it Uxbridge in north-west London) and with little prospects on the job, property and love fronts, her bedroom at home is a bijou prison. Callaghan is every inch the attitude-laden, no- nonsense, hoodie-wearing working-class young woman. Her tough exterior is somewhat blunted by the girlie bow pinched in her hair, and this curious contradiction might have minds beginning to query. Although we assume this is the real Sarah Callaghan, the hour’s semi-theatricality means that Elephant often comes across like a one-woman monologue rather than a pure stand-up show.
The resulting effect is a disorienting one and not necessarily in a wholly positive way. When she gets down to them, some of her jokes are poor and Callaghan resorts to jousting with senior members of the audience rather than anyone who comes close to being in her own age bracket. It’s another odd move in an ultimately frustrating debut show. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 30 Aug, 5.50pm, £10–£12 (£8–£10).
Banging chart dance is pounding as the audience take their seats. The wise know to give the front row a wide berth, but in fairness, no seat is really safe. The crowd is violated with wild abandon during Adam Riches’ profoundly daft tale of an American high school sports coach, guiding his team to victory in a ‘volfsball’ tournament. This allows for every Eastbound and Down / Friday Night Lights / Dodgeball cliché to be lined up and smacked out, as he relentlessly parodies the testosterone- pumped laddishness of the genre.
Coach’s middle-age addiction to gum and general failure at adulthood also brings to mind the heroin- dependent heroine of Strangers with Candy. His long-suffering wife and angry teenage daughter both take good parts in the ensemble cast, which also includes a cameo from Richard Gadd, who has to sprint off to make his own show every night.
It’s certainly not an hour to attempt with a hangover, or a craving for intelligent, sedate laughs. This is over-excited, energy-drink fuelled adolescent humour or, as Riches says, ‘the ultimate test of a paying crowd’s patience’. (Claire Sawers) ■ Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, until 30 Aug, 9.45pm, £10–£14 (£8–£12).
BETH VYSE: AS FUNNY AS CANCER Emphasising triumph over tragedy as a cancer scare gets short comedic shrift ●●●●●
Did you hear the one about the woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer, then had one of her boobs lopped off? It’s a hoot! One of a string of shows at this year’s Fringe to tackle very serious subject matter through the medium of stand-up comedy (euthanasia, irritable bowel syndrome and amputation are all getting a look-in elsewhere), Beth Vyse’s show focuses on the bombshell that was dropped on her five years ago. Just 28 at the time, Vyse was juggling a portfolio career of acting and comedy when her boyfriend noticed a lump while they were in bed together. Tests confirmed her fears, and she underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy before being given the all-clear last year. It’s a powerful punchline, yet the set-up to her harrowing yet absurdly told true story begins in signature style as she greets her incoming audience dressed as Dolly Parton with plastic bosom and wig, then babbling chirpily through easy patter about her upbringing in Stoke-on-Trent.
There are props for the crowd too (ping pong balls for a
frenzied ejaculation scene, among others) with the interactive elements seemingly dropped in to grease the wheels for what could be a tense hour. She’s determined to give her show a triumphant rather than tragic tone though, and explains that writing it was her way of ‘coming out’ after keeping her cancer secret for a long time. Now she prefers not to take herself too seriously. As she
gleefully stabs an oversize inflatable boob with a pin, popping it loudly, before leading a Rod Stewart singalong, she’s serious about making light of one of the shitter hands that life tried to deal her. (Claire Sawers) ■ Heroes @ The Hive, 226 0000, until 30 Aug, 4.20pm, £5 (or Pay What You Want).
20–31 Aug 2015 THE LIST FESTIVAL 43
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