Mystery man
Last year his show exposed his own racist prejudices. Now, REGINALD D HUNTER turns his attention to more identity crises. Mark Fisher finds out the score.
e's black and proud. he’s dangerous and iconoclastic. lle dares to look the truth in the face. He‘s very. very cool. And one of his comedy heroes is Dave Allen. ‘l'le‘s one of the best storytellers l‘ye eyer seen.‘ says (ieorgia- born London resident Reginald l) Hunter of the nine-fingered Irishman. ‘llis show
used to come on late at night and I got out of bed to catch it. There were a lot of
things I wasn‘t old enough to make sense of. especially about lingland or Ireland. I
didn't know anything about those cultures. but at heart I understood the crux of
what was happening. I was a young black kid out of the ghetto digging Daye Allen.~
What goes around comes around and now the young white kids are digging Hunter. But not without raising the odd eyebrow. lle caused a stir on last year‘s l‘ringe with Il’liirv Woman. an expose of racist prejudices --~ some of them the comics own — that many would rather deny. The show focused on the media— fuelled assumptions that black men and white women make about each other. Hunter hesitated before going into such contentious territory. but it changed him for good.
‘1 am an infinitely better comedian just becatise I did that show.’ he says. ‘I was so neryous about how people were going to take what I said. I figured that if you say the things that make you most uncomfortable. once you‘ye said them the sky’s the limit. Sure enough. my director came to see me two months ago and said I had a new swagger to my work. That‘s the difference between comics who are interested in pushing the boundaries of what they’re doing and comics who just want to stay employed. You have to go seek out stuff that‘s troublesome for you and try to beat it.’
Standing alone in such a way has led to this year’s show. A .l//_\‘.\'I(’I"\' limp/ml in a Niggu. in which llunter finds himself alienated from all the communities he once identified with. Since moying to Britain. he‘s become all too aware of Bush‘s foreign policy and can no longer feel a patriotic .’\merican. llis friendships and experience make it hard to identify with those black people who claim ‘tlie white man is out to get us‘.
And finding solidarity with other men is difficult when all they‘ll talk about is football and sex. ‘l’ye made so many choices in my life about who I was going to be and that means sometimes you haye to be by yourself. You have to be lonely sometimes. Any time you love a community. you‘re saying “fuck you" to the rest of the community.~
It's an attitude that ensures Hunter. who was a runner-up for best headliner in
this year‘s (‘hortle comedy awards. will always stay one step ahead of the pack. ‘lf
I went on stage and talked about the weather. bad seryice in Britain. how to find the clitoris. or airplane food. I could make a liying. But why pay L'l() to listen to a load of stuff you already belieye'.”
Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 7-30 Aug (not 10, 17), 8.15pm, £9.50—£10.50 (928-29). Previews 5&6 Aug, 25.
Oh no! The effects are too much; he’s turning monstrous!
Finally pure evil is revealed as he turns into Mr Hyde
THE KARAOKE SHOW
Shakespeare reimagined for the Pop Idol generation
As the hot-pant wearing, butterfly-breasted Titania shimmied under a glistening ball to funky disco beats, 2000’s festival shocker The Donkey Show thrust its way to cult-like status. A sensationalist’s wet dream, it unmistakably embraced and reinvigorated the novelty act genre, outrageously reimagining A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Shakespeare’s tale of confused attractions - in a 705 New York disco, complete with homoerotic dancers and segued club mixes. Its sequel, The Karaoke Show, now finds its way Fringewards.
Actor and producer David Neilson - who takes up directorial duties fresh from the show’s two-year stint in New York - is feeling optimistic. ‘Karaoke has been a massive success Stateside,’ he says, in his soft Scots brogue. ‘lt’s essentially a comedy act and musical combined. We don’t need to classify or justify it into any genre; we just want the audience to come along, relax and have fun.’ Another Bard- inspired romp, Karaoke gives a none-too-sophisticated nod to Shakespeare’s literary underdog, Comedy of Errors.
But that’s just the beginning in a gig that promises nightly Karaoke Idol competitions (the audience is strongly encouraged to take part), inspired by everything from 70s 8. 805 pop classics to Bollywood and Elvis themes. ‘The theatre doesn’t have to be this intense experience; Shakespeare’s prose is transformed into pop songs and comedy sketches; the antithesis of what you expect is really what we’re going for.’ And no worries, either, about buttering up on any Bard- Iike warbling pre-show as Master of Ceremonies, the Reverend Carlton A Williams, and his co-host Mustang Sally, introduce the characters while the fire-tongued Dragon Lady ‘translates’ the narration. Indeed, as a lyricist, Shakespeare is simply a jumping off point, for these more contemporary offerings.
Set in the seamy Happy Twins Karaoke Lounge, everything from Britney to the Beatles is being primed and ready to throw into the mix, courtesy of a 15-strong cast. As Neilson rightly admits, it’s the sort of show (ridiculous in the extreme) that separates comedy and theatre-goers into ‘love it or hate it’ camps. If the former makes it to the end of the show with dignity intact (an impossibility, surely?), they’re invited to hang around afterward to sing karaoke, drink in hand, with the show’s stars until the wee small hours of the morning.
‘The cast is energised and there really is something for everyone in the show; even the purists,’ says Neilson. A tad optimistic, methinks. This will be a classicist-free zone, surely. (Victoria Hammett)
I Gilded Balloon Teviot, 668 7633, 8—30 Aug (not 76, 23, 28), I0. 15pm, L‘IO—EI 7 (£9470). Previews 6&7 Aug, £6; Queen '3 Ha//, (568 2019. 28 Aug, 70.30pm, £72.50.
13—12 Aug 2004 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 31