FESTIVAL —
theatre/cABAnrr
FAITH, HOPE AND COMEDY
This is rather a shame. Although the show wasn‘t good when I saw it. I had a distinct feeling that it might — well should really — be much better on other nights.
Mr Moloney was visibly nervous and his comedy material was certainly not as advertised. ‘brand spanking new‘. However, his own version of James Brown‘s ‘Get up, get on up‘, played for the ‘hip sex kittens‘ in the audience certainly went down well with those who better fitted that description than this reviewer. He is a very good accordionist.
After an early interval. Mr Day‘s material and presentation were a good deal better with some excellent lines. although even he appreciated that Scottish audiences are not likely to split their sides at Church of England jokes. He finished early and we were out in less than an hour, after an abortive accordion encore. The song trailed in the programme failed to materialisc. (Mungo Bovey)
I Faith. Hope And Comedy (Fringe) Kevin Day & John Moloney. The Gilded Balloon Theatre And Studio (Venue 38) 2262151. until 1 Sept (not 20 or 30 Aug) 10pm . £5 (£4).
CARRY ON PSYCHO
Not only does Nelson David distribute free baseball caps advertising his show, he also proffers custard cream biscuits to his audience. Nelson. who has reputable comic
credentials. appears as the bc-slippered and unlikely Welsh celebrity Norman Norman in a psychotic tribute to the thirtieth anniversary of Psycho. There are twinkles of brilliance and ofcourse the shower scene. but the audience smirks and rarely laughs out loud. Norman explains that the biscuit is not simply a marketing ploy but provides you with a lasting memory of the show. It works. but unfortunately only to remind you that the show fell short of expectations. (Konrad Manning) I Carry On Psycho (Fringe) Nelson David. Marco‘s (Venue 98) 229 8830. until 25 Aug. 12. 15pm. £3.50 in so)
JOHN DOWIE
Fresh from last year‘s successful Whale Nation. .lohn Dowie is back to live performance. The reason he stopped being a stand-up comedian is due to some recently discovered sensitivities and environmental appreciations which demand a subtler approach than Bernard Manning might give. A touch of Spike Milligan maybe‘.’
Using a Sales-Seminar approach. a slide projector and a piano. Dowie takes us on a journey under the skin to point out what he feels sure lies within. He makes us laugh only because we occasionally feel we should cry.
A sensitive and aware man. his comedy show should only be taken as lightly as Festival-fatigue will allow. You’ll come out thinking. And isn't that nice?
I Why I Stopped Being a Stand-up Comedian
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‘A modern day Will Rogers’, ‘The thinking man’s comedian’ and ‘The
‘ heir-apparent to Mort Sahl (who he?)’
; are all epithets applied to Will Durst by i his home state’s press. Hell, what do
g west coaster’s know anyway? Well . . . g it seems quite a bit. Last year’s Fringe
; goers will remember Durst’s constant reappraisal at his script as the show progresses, his noting oi unfunny gags
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in a notebook and, primarily, the quality of his material. Unlike Fanshawe, this is topical comedy how it should be periormed. Hopefully, The Perrier Panel will be more discerning this year. (Philip Parr).
Will Durst (Fringe) The Assembly Rooms (Venue 3), 226 2428, 26 Aug—1 Sept, 10pm, £5.50 (£4.50).
(Fringe) Pleasance Theatre. 60 The I’leasance (Venue 33) 5566550. 26 Aug. 8pm. £5 (£4.25).
MY LIFE IN DANCE
There is something slightly touching about Paul Brophy‘s reminiscences of a life as a less than successful dancer. with his tales of failure from schoolboy Irish jigs to adult basic tap-dance. Unfortunately, there isn‘t a great deal of comedy. There are a few giggles elicited here and there but the general response to Brophy’s narrative is ‘so what?‘.
He struggles to involve the audience (all nine of us) in his unremarkable reminiscences. that fail to entertain because they are so ordinary. Comedy can be found in the mundane. but it requires a more charismatic performer than Brophy to achieve it. His attempts to make his cast of characters amusing fall flat, and you are left with the unhappy conclusion that Brophy desperately wanted to be Alan Bennett but was left with all the campness and none of the insights. (Tom Lappin)
I My Life In Dance (Fringe) Paul Brophy, The Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 1 Sept (not 20, 28 Aug), 2pm, £4 (£3).
SEX, DRUGS AND ROTTEN ROLLS
A strong bill of four Scottish performers. that includes the winner oflast year's So You Think
You 'rc Funny competition.
Introduced and compered by Lynn Ferguson. ever insistent on audience participation. the show is a laugh a minute. with all the performers going down well.
Fred MacAulay. who is first on. is hilarious. disctrssing his ancestry. football and Scotland. Phil Kay. from whom one should expect the unexpected. delivers a barrage of surreal one-litters. while David (‘osgrove contrasts nicely with a fast and aggressive style. (I’aul Maverick)
I Sex, Drugs and Rotten Rolls (Fringe ) The Funny Farm. The (iilded Balloon (Venue 38) 226 2151.26 Aug—l Scp.
_ EDDIE IZZARD
Minutes before his show Eddie Izzard was urgently attending to the make-shift bar. If this was pre-show worries about gettingthe punters in sufficiently good spirits (outside it was raining and we all looked bedraggled
and wet) they were unfounded. 1n minutes he had us in good cheer. Eddie‘s repertoire
stretches from serving in Vietnam (‘silver service‘) and smuggling jam roly-polys to the Mujahedin. to domestic matters like finding himself lost in his king size duvet or sitting on a bus beside a man smothered in vomit. He has a fixation with invention of facts and exaggeration of reality to surreal levels. But in a very funny way. Charming, bright. energetic and very entertaining. (Robert Alstead)
I Eddie lzzard (Fringe) Greyfriars Kirk House (Venue 28) 225 3626. until 1 Sept (not 27). 6pm. £3.50 (£3).
FEAR OF A NYLOPIAN PLANET
You are an innocent alligator. Called Andy. Life‘s not bad. A deer
here. a beaver there. the odd American tourist. Then the bottom falls out of your world. As ifby magic (say the Five‘s Mr Benn). you find yourself in a student review. your buttocks stuffed in a jam-jar. The horror. the horror.
Fortunately. your part in said cabaret psycho-frenzy is the slackcst part. Unlike the toffee-nosed bottom-burps typical of most student comedy affairs. the Bri-nylons benefit from the plain fact that their wackiness. contrariness. freakiness. is never contrived but decidedly arr-nature]. Not so much ‘off the wall’ as ‘What wall?!‘
Seventy minutes of irreverent. scatty. stream-of-consciousness mirth mania. (Craig McLean)
I Fear of a Nylopian Planet (Fringe) The Bri-Nylon Five. Adam Ilouse Theatre (Venue 34). until 25 Aug (not Suns). 10.50pm. £3.50 (£2.50).
IVOR DEMBINA AND SIMON BLIGH
Dembina is one ofthe movers and shakers on the London cabaret scene. regularly organising and compering gigs. On the strength ofthis performance perhaps he should devote more time to honing his own act. He is one of a sizeable band of comics using well-worn material that wasn‘t all that great on first hearing. and has lost all appeal fourth time around. His low-key delivery is more suggestive of dispiritedness than a laid-back approach. Simon Bligh. as
welcome contrast, comes on like his lager has been spiked with speed. exuberant and enthusiastic. often losing his thread in a breakneck narrative taking in fights. fashion and plenty of schoolday reminiscences. An audience-inspired digression takes up another ten minutes musing on the links between philosophy and butcher‘s shops. but he never loses his listeners. Bligh might look like the nice boy next door, but he is definitely worth your money. (Tom Lappin)
I Ivor Dembina and Simon Bligh (Fringe) Greyfriars Kirk House (Venue 28) 225 3626. Until 1 Sep(not Tuesdays). 9pm. £4 (£3)
The List 24 — 30 August 1990 29