Fringe Comedy
Lorraine Wilson
Bridget Christie – Because You Demanded It
The Stand
FIVE STARS
Chris Turner – Observational Tragedy
Pleasance Courtyard
FOUR STARS
Mark Dolan: Life Hacks
Gilded Balloon Teviot
THREE STARS
THE Brexiteers have put away the red, white and blue bunting, and those who voted to remain, remain in disbelief. If that initial rage has been replaced with numbness, Bridget Christie’s Because You Demanded It will bring palms rapidly to foreheads again.
In a last-minute change, Christie shelved her planned show Mortal, about life and death, to write this hour just weeks before the Fringe began.
There are no notes or scribbles on her hands to crib, however. This is something that is clearly so deeply felt that it’s an express train of thought and cascades from her.
As a starting point, using horticulture as analogy, she articulates her incredulity at the vote while recognising that in the room there might be many who voted to leave. Sometimes that articulation isn’t quite enough and pounding the back wall in sheer frustration is required.
It’s political, so Christie does want to make solid points but when the rhythm of the hour is established it’s clear that the pay off is going to be worthwhile. There are few who have managed to combine such eloquent expression of despondency with so many proper belly laughs.
If this is a work in progress, it can only get even better with the twists and turns that will inevitably happen over the next few months. It could be her best yet.
Run ends August 29
POST-IT notes of audience memories, written while queuing, decorate the backdrop of Chris Turner’s Observational Tragedy.
The hour is essentially about memory, and Turner’s lack of it. He can retain facts, allowing him to improvise and freestyle, but there is no long-term memory to draw on.
Starting with an Iris Murdoch quote and following that up with a Kurt Vonnegut reference commands the attention without the show being overly intellectual, and thanks to his open, fresh storytelling style that never wavers.
He takes us through the problems that this lack of memory has brought to relationships, his grandmother’s dementia, and then uses our childhood memories to create the final part of the show. There’s some silliness too, with his critical appraisal of Cliff Richard’s musical output.
The show won the Adelaide Fringe Weekly Award 2016 for Best Comedy and it’s not too difficult to understand why. Disparate elements that could so easily make for a messy hour are tied together with some panache.
Run ends August 29
HAVING forgiven Mark Dolan his decision to work with Katie Hopkins and enjoyed his stint at Gilded Balloon’s Night At The Museum, it was time to see how his Life Hacks could make our day-to-day existence that bit simpler. After an hour life didn’t seem that much easier, however, just an hour shorter.
While it’s true that many stand-ups need to decide a theme and a title for a Fringe show long before August, there seems to have been little commitment to write an hour around it.
Life Hacks is written large on a flipchart, preceded by the almost obligatory hashtag, but this doesn’t come into play until we’ve almost forgotten this was supposed to be the theme of the show.
However, Dolan is an affable gent and he has a fine way with latecomers. Subjects range from charity shops to the royals to American politics, before getting round to the life hacks.
Of course it’s not always necessary to have something to say in comedy. Life Hacks is an amusing enough hour and there were many laughs, but ultimately feels stitched together from bits of many different shows.
Run ends August 29
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