list.co.uk/festival Reviews at a Glance | FESTIVAL COMEDY
REVIEWS AT A GLANCE
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ANTHONY AYTON: KITCHEN PARTY ACTION ●●●●● Anthony Ayton always ends up in the kitchen at parties (hence the title). So he tries getting a party atmosphere going in this nightclub basement. Maybe it’s just the crowd he’s got in, but attempts to strike up banter don’t go anywhere very good; what’s much more interesting is his slant on UK race politics, class, drugs and social inequalities. Ayton also wishes people were more honest, and less doe-eyed about the realities of marriage after his own one broke down, amicably, not long ago. The moments where he stumbles over words and stops himself, saying he’s trying to be as truthful as possible, seem like bits where he’s on the right track. Ayton could stand out more if he left some of the more clichéd crowd chit-chat behind. (Claire Sawers) Laughing Horse @ Espionage, until 26 Aug (not 20), 10.45pm, donations. ASHLEY BLAKER: OBSERVANT JEW ●●●●● A born-again Orthodox Jew, Ashley Blaker delivers a comedic lecture based around the six tenets that most frequently come up in such cultural discussions. You can probably hazard a guess as to what these might be, but there are other things to take away from Blaker’s show that might surprise those who are not of the Jewish faith. Enlightening as this hour is, the humour remains rather light, conservative and wholly predictable. When ‘you’re ahead of me’ is uttered by our host for the second time, it shouldn’t necessarily be seen as a compliment to the writing. (Brian Donaldson) Underbelly Bristo Square, until 26 Aug (not 18, 25), 3pm; 18 Aug, 11.55pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).
BETH VYSE AS OLIVE HANDS: THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE ●●●●● When you walk into the venue, you are faced with a promising and intriguing set-up: there are fly swatters scattered across the front rows, a giant hand-shaped chair, an inflatable phone and a projected background that promises this show is ‘sponsored by cheap white wine’. However, as the hour goes on, you realise that is all there is: random props and on-screen jokes that land better than the comedian’s. Beth Vyse has a good premise here with her Olive Hands persona: after a short-lived acting career, she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get back into the limelight, even if she has to use her baby to get there. There are some entertaining moments, such as Tiny Hands’ (Vyse’s son, Henry) short appearances and a ‘sass in life’
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skit that is close to being empowering. But they are heavily overshadowed by the continuous and distracting demand that the audience raise their fly swatters every time she says ‘hands’, an influx of forced impressions and jokes that go nowhere. (Sofia Matias) Monkey Barrel, until 26 Aug (not 15), 3.45pm, £5 in advance or donations at the venue. the Disney canon lets Audritt down temporarily but he soon rallies with a gag about meat and veganism that’s a neat bit of wordplay rather than an assault on either of those parties. Now, there’s a good boy. (Brian Donaldson) Laughing Horse @ Cabaret Voltaire, until 26 Aug (not 15), noon, donations.
CROFT & PEARCE: DOUBLE TAKE ●●●●● Does it get any more Radio 4 than this? That, sadly, isn’t intended as a compliment, for this double-act sketch show fails to hit any sort of heights within its lengthy hour. Hannah Croft and Fiona Pearce have worked together for so long now that they instinctively know what makes each other tick, and while their onstage chemistry is enjoyable enough to watch, the writing that should bolster the performances is patchy in the extreme. There’s a welcome change of pace when an inappropriate Brown Owl raps her way onto centre stage, but soon enough we’re back to the pedestrian likes of a stress workshop which disintegrates into a family schism. (Brian Donaldson) Underbelly Bristo Square, until 26 Aug, 2pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10). DANIEL AUDRITT: TRYING TO BE GOOD ●●●●● What does it mean to be good these days? Daniel Audritt is working hard on being a better person, but is the title actually just a hint that he would far rather prefer to be a superior comedian? In a perfect world, of course, both goals could be achieved. He may be in rush to have kids of his own, but Audritt revels in his distancing role of godparent, which provides plenty glory with barely any of the responsibility. A rather hackneyed analysis of the negative aspects in
DARREN HARRIOTT: VISCERAL ●●●●● Early on in the hour, Darren Harriott informs the audience that he’s not ‘good’ with emotions. Opportunities for meaningful connection – like discovering a housemate has been using his cans of Diet Coke to smoke crack – are deflected with a blithe comment. Certainly his childhood did not permit many opportunities for weakness. As a young man growing up fatherless and working class, he joined a gang out of a desire for masculine camaraderie, and a story about getting ‘Terror Clan Killaz’ printed on a hoodie in Times New Roman has the audience in stitches. Despite the strength of the central thread, other trains of thought (like one about masculinity and Mike Tyson) feel integral to the plot but are suddenly abandoned in favour of jokes about Twitter. This sudden veering to and from hefty topics to light-hearted quips feels jarring in an otherwise funny, emotional hour of excellent storytelling craftsmanship. (Deborah Chu) Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 15), 9.30pm, £8.50–£10 (£7.50–£9). EDD HEDGES: FOR EVA, FROM FOREVER AGO ●●●●● The Fringe should always have a space for sensitive storytelling comedians and Edd Hedges is swiftly marking out his place in that genre. Following on from last year’s debut Wonderland, he
brings us For Eva, From Forever Ago, an extremely winding tale which takes us from an obsession with Winnie the Pooh’s existential philosophy to a dark road called Snakes Lane where disaster seems certain to strike. While Hedges wants this to be remembered as a narrative about the power of stories, it’s the family drama at the heart of his tale which keeps momentum pulsing forwards. Though he ramps up tension which is released a little anti-climactically at the grand finale, like all the best journeys, the trip was well worth taking for its own sake. (Brian Donaldson) Gilded Balloon Teviot, until 26 Aug, 4pm, £8–£10 (£7–£9).
ELEANOR MORTON: GREAT TITLE, GLAMOROUS PHOTO ●●●●● Taking the stage to the thudding bass of Beyoncé’s ‘Run the World (Girls)’, Eleanor Morton announces her re- invention as a sexy, confident (and inexplicably American) comedian who trades on gags about secreting bags of semen from her conquests. Canned laughter punctuates such excruciating punchlines, just in case the audience doesn’t cotton on quickly enough. As the hour runs on, the persona disintegrates as the ‘real’ Morton breaks through, full of worry over her body and stand-up career. The best jokes come from this Morton, when she takes aim at notoriously male-dominated panel shows and compares women and Ferrero Rocher as symbols of wealth and power. Unfortunately, after having revealed the razor-sharp edge beneath her nervous, offbeat energy, concluding with an (albeit spot-on) impression of an atypical sad male comic feels like ending on a whimper rather than a bang. (Deborah Chu) The Stand 4, until 25 Aug (not 20), 12.05pm, £9 (£8). 15–27 Aug 2018 THE LIST FESTIVAL 57