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list.co.uk/festival Reviews | FESTIVAL COMEDY
TRYGVE WAKENSHAW: NAUTILUS Near-silent comedy produces loud laughs ●●●●● JENNY BEDE: DON’T LOOK AT ME Exuberant but uneven Fringe debut ●●●●●
By the time Trygve Wakenshaw is high-fiving every audience member as they exit a packed venue, the goodwill within the room is tangible. The prospect of a 90-minute clowning mime show at the beddy- byes end of a long day will test the endurance of even the most committed festival-goer. But with Nautilus (the final part of a watery trilogy launched by 2013’s Squidboy), the New Zealander continues to hit the physical comedy jackpot.
Subverting even the image of today’s modern male clown (where’s the beard?), it seems almost pointless to note that Wakenshaw learned much of his trade with Philippe Gaulier (haven’t they all?). That studying comes to the fore right from the off with an opener which would be called ‘So, Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?’ were he ever to be taken with the idea of giving names to his routines.
Over 1.5 hours of expertly-performed and largely-silent segments, he transforms into a dozing dinosaur, a goofy bartender, a smarmy stand-up, Rapunzel, Aretha Franklin and a furball-producing cat. While a significant number of hour-long shows drag by, Nautilus zips along without you ever checking the time. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 30 Aug (not 24), 10pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11).
For the purposes of her Fringe debut, the heavily tipped singing comic Jenny Bede isn’t quite sure what she wants to be. At heart she’s probably a party girl but that doesn’t stop her from dreaming about nights-in, draped in comfy evening-wear, probably gorging on Game of Thrones. Still, she’s defiantly doing this show for the kids, hence a tune all about emojis: it’s possible that no one under the age of 20 will understand the unforgiveable cliché of ‘it does what it says on the tin’ but Bede trots it out without any irony whatsoever. As for ‘I’m a fan of testes: don’t hold it against me’, that really should have been left on the cutting-room floor. Strongly in her favour is a natural exuberance as well as a potent social awareness, tackling topics like tampon tax and rap lyrics (happily, Bede avoids non-hack territory here as she compares that nice chap Drake to her own mum). And she does have a surprise around the corner with a spectacular finale, but this is scant reward for the lulls that precede it. The lingering feeling post-Don’t Look at Me is of someone telling you at length about their amazing night out. Mainstream acceptance undoubtedly awaits. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 30 Aug (not 24), 3.30pm, £9–£11 (£7–£9).
ANDREW DOYLE: MINIMALISM! Quicksilver set from a man who claims he’s now become his own bitter creation ●●●●●
If English isn’t your mother tongue then you’ll have your work cut out trying to keep up with Andrew Doyle. Ideas burst from his mouth in an astonishing fusillade and, fortunately, most of them are on target, although the big laughs are rather scarce. Doyle says he refuses to abide by the ‘rule’ that states a Fringe show must have a theme, and while there are recurring motifs running through Minimalism!, he broadly sticks to that position. Claiming that when he started comedy he
invented himself as ‘a bitter gay comic’, Doyle says that he’s turned into his creation. Recent experiences around a bad gig in Gibraltar form much of the show, and this feeds into a routine about dating as a gay man; in particular, there’s a winning section about the florid body classifications used within some sections of the gay community. Doyle’s material is built by layers. He introduces a
subject, elaborates a little, and then goes off on a rant. It’s a technique possibly designed to help his audience keep up, although much of the material becomes repetitive. If he’d just slow down he might earn some bigger laughs. (Murray Robertson) ■ The Stand 6, 558 7272, until 30 Aug, 7.50pm, £10 (£8).
THE MISSING HANCOCKS: LIVE IN EDINBURGH! A sense of genuine fun heightens the comedy history being played out before your eyes ●●●●●
For those not in the know, Hancock’s Half Hour was a BBC classic (on both radio and TV) in the late 50s and early 60s. Most episodes are now available on Radio 4 Extra, but like many great BBC productions, a chunk of them went missing. When former Drop the Dead Donkey star and now antiquarian book dealer Neil Pearson acquired the papers of a freelance comedy writer, he stumbled across 20 scripts from the lost recordings. Pearson went on to record five of them for radio with Kevin McNally reviving Hancock.
Here, in this transfer to the stage, there are four episodes in total performed across two days. The episodes are staged in the traditional way of live radio recordings with a lone mic in the centre of the stage as the actors bob up and down reading from the script. It could easily be dull to watch but there are plenty of visual shenanigans and mugging to the crowd, particularly from Robin Sebastian who shines as Kenneth Williams. You can’t fault the Galton and Simpson scripts. The comedy is still as fresh as it was back then, and it’s a testament to the writing that some of the audience weren’t even alive when the series first aired. Pearson only tweaked one line in the adaptation but there are a fair few actor asides to add freshness.
It’s a tricky task playing an actor playing a role but they all
seem to nail it. McNally is comfortingly convincing as the eternally thwarted Hancock, particularly if you momentarily close your eyes to concentrate on the voice. To add an extra layer to the humour there’s some endearing corpsing, while a forgotten prop results in good-natured teasing between the players, providing a sense of fun to the whole project. (Marissa Burgess) ■ Assembly Rooms, 0844 693 3008, until 30 Aug, 4.15pm, £16 (£13).
20–31 Aug 2015 THE LIST FESTIVAL 39