{COMEDY} Reviews
BARRY AND STUART Showing and telling their magical mysteries ●●●●●
Be-suited Aberdonian purveyors of macabre magical comedy, Barry Jones and Stuart MacLeod have struck upon one hell of a gimmick. First comes The Show, filled with their favoured brand of slightly gory trickery and presented by the twosome with their usual genial hokey banter. In addition to escapology, mind-reading, plenty of card tricks and endangering a goldfish, there’s some nice interactive stuff with Facebook and Twitter (keep your phone on). Viewing also requires wearing red tinted glasses (issued at the door) and the duo invite the audience to remove these spectacles at will if they want to have ‘the truth’ revealed.
Baz and Stu have levelled up in venue size and excel in their larger pond, turning out a series of quirky feats in a highly entertaining, if slightly insubstantial, hour that’s lighter on the darkness than in previous years. But then comes The Tell. In a much more intimate venue next door, the boys risk exposing the secrets behind their tricks. It’s less a dry re-hashing of earlier events and more a show in its own right. They reveal their props and techniques as well as few extra surprises. As suits the later hour, things take a turn for the sinister, none more so than footage of them as spotty, teenaged magic geeks. While most magicians spend their time trying to prove
their veracity, it’s a change of pace to have Jones and MacLeod show off the hard work and learned skills that go into their act. Their respect for old-time magicians is palpable as they explain the history of certain tricks. Rather than coming across as a rude affront to the Magic Circle, they can’t resist inviting the audience to marvel at the hidden beauty of their acts, proving the magic is in the details. (Suzanne Black) ■ Udderbelly’s Pasture, 0844 545 8252, until 28 Aug, 10.15pm & midnight, £12–£14 (£11–£13) & £10–£12 (£9–£11).
L A V I T S E F
KIERAN AND THE JOES Teambuilding seminar with more laughs than cringes ●●●●●
Taking a cue from Office-style humour, which seeks to entertain with the toe-curlingly cringeworthy, Joe Markham, Joe Parham and Kieran Hodgson’s show takes the form of a teambuilding seminar. From the inspirational music to matching pink ties, all signs point to an hour of trying to avoid the eyes of the performers and thus being chosen to participate in an awkward skit. With Joe 1 in the lead, Joe 2 constantly trying to
exert his authority and Kieran filling the role of work- experience dolt, things, predictably, go awry and Joe 1 loses his grip on proceedings. What could have been a tiresome hour of David Brent-type white collar horror is instead filled with a whole variety of gags. While the participation aspect is actually fairly mild,
on this particular day a lively audience contributes greatly to material that could have been undermined by a less willing crowd. By the end of the hour the boys do succeed in creating a bonded group: one whose aim is to fully invest in and enjoy the show. Surely that’s a team worth building. (Suzanne Black) ■ The Store, 556 5375, until 28 Aug (not 16), 1.20pm, £8.50 (£7).
38 THE LIST 11–18 Aug 2011
VINEGAR KNICKERS A well-titled ‘sketchy beast’ ●●●●● THE REAL MACGUFFINS Sketch comedy verging on madness ●●●●●
Sketchy just about sums this show up. Despite high-energy, enthusiastic performances from Samantha Baines, Katie Burnetts and Harriet Fisher, like a cheap chicken Caesar salad the meaty bits are too few and far between, and the ‘lettuce’ material is excessive enough to give the whole thing a limp and tedious feel. From the preposterous dance that opens this impeccably smooth sketch show, there’s a sense of fun and an appealing silliness to The Real MacGuffins that are hard to resist. They have the knack of being funny without doing much, so in a show as ably scripted and as tightly put together as this one, the laughs come thick and fast.
The routines seesaw from protracted, predictable Entitled Skitsophrenic, a theme of madness
Catherine Tate-esque teen caricatures to more unexpected, innovative sketches, including a notably well-acted sketch about Adolf Hitler’s unlikely old flame, where Burnetts marks herself out as the star of the show.
They’re certainly a genuinely likeable trio, which makes the abundance of average jokes and gag- worthy London chav impersonations very frustrating, and their refreshingly unpretentious stage presence lends itself well to the sketch- genre. Plus, the snippets of pleasant vocals suggest the
ladies could sift away the bog-standard ‘ginger jokes’ and flesh out the less-hackneyed characterisation. (Rebecca Ross) ■ C soco, 0845 260 1234, until 29 Aug (not 15), 4.35pm, £7.50–£9.50 (£6.50–£8.50).
vaguely binds things together, but the three guys can’t stop themselves branching off, whether into a stomach-churning job interview or a truly disturbing impression of our beloved monarch. Things could probably do with some tightening up in the middle – a Christmas Carol-based routine goes on a bit too long – but it all comes together in a surprisingly moving operatic ending. The threesome aren’t afraid to leaven their
sometimes clever humour with knob gags and crudity, but they do focus a little too much on gay sex and closet queens, themes that pall when you’ve seen them several times. Still, it’s held together by superb deliveries, a sure sense of timing and a tremendous confidence. (David Kettle) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 29 Aug (not 16), 4.30pm, £9–£11 (£8–£9.50).