Reviews & features: Rebecca Ross
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Asher Treleaven: Matador
23 Aug 2011
Fresh, exciting and energetic
There’s no explanation for the rose-trimmed, front-lawn stage Treleaven spends the hour dandying around, but this seems to fit in with his marvellously peculiar persona. His bittersweet harangue on racism is as intelligent and heartfelt as it is funny.
Mark Dolan
23 Aug 2011
Genial bumbling and his confident stage presence is charming and droll
Ranting about everyday ills could quickly become dour, but Dolan’s genial bumbling, juxtaposed with his confident stage presence is charming and droll. His ability to make mundane chatter with the audience quaintly humorous is his real selling point…
Tom Bell Begins
23 Aug 2011
Tangent tales turn too often into ramblings
Formerly in duo Tommy and the Weeks, Bell’s solo show has more tangents than a geometry textbook. This sometimes works well, in strange spiels that play to his effervescent oddness, but mostly the performance is inconsistent, turning too frequently into…
Mabbs & Justice: Love Machine
23 Aug 2011
Joke on characters’ thespian shortcomings tragically bypasses irony
James Mabbett and Adam Justice are questionable actors and, as M&J, a bit annoying. There are some averagely amusing moments, and effective use of a projector, but the show’s main joke is the characters’ thespian shortcomings, which tragically bypasses…
Michael Workman - Humans Are Beautiful
16 Aug 2011
Surreal, meditative show from philosophical, esoteric intellect
In this surreal, meditative show Workman spins an impressively sustained yarn about his journey through a warzone accompanied by a talking dog and his grave-digging love interest. His philosophical, esoteric intellect is tangible beneath the surface of…
Phil Nichol: The Simple Hour
16 Aug 2011
Dumbed down silliness peppered with droll quips
An hour in Nichol’s company seems to canter by in the wake of the comic’s own upbeat and vociferous performance. However, the material is constantly in danger of descending into vacuity, and although he peppers the silliness with droll quips, the…
The Ginge, the Geordie and the Geek
15 Aug 2011
Feel-good comedy from the sketch-happy threesome
In this veritable zip-wire of a show the three Gs whiz through characters from garden gnomes to mime addicts. The timing and production are truly remarkable, and there’s absolutely nothing to dislike about these lads, whose genuine enthusiasm is…
Nick Helm - Dare to Dream
12 Aug 2011
Shouty Marmite musical act
Nick Helm is whipping up quite a storm on the comedy circuit, and you can see why. He is certainly a force to be reckoned with: confident, commanding, and able to straddle the line between brusque, brash delivery, and engaging moments of…
Catriona Knox
8 Aug 2011
Signs of promise but dialogue lacks punch
The platter of characters here are, at best, well-acted and have the right foundations to be spun into entertaining sketches. However, the dialogue doesn’t pack enough punch and the material quickly grates; that doesn’t deter Knox, who even returns to…
Dregs
8 Aug 2011
Character-based sketches maintain constant audience engagement
Max Dickins and Mark Smith present an hour which thrives on its unpredictability, offering character-based sketches while maintaining a constant audience engagement. The show takes slightly too long to gather momentum, after an awkward start, and would…
Brown and Corley: Born in the 80s
8 Aug 2011
Like bad school drama production
This is like watching a bad school drama production – where those involved aren’t your offspring, you’re not obliged to laugh. Brown is relentlessly abrasive, which makes Corley’s blandness a comparative blessing. The best thing about it is the…
Sex You (I’m Gonna) – featuring Nathan Phillips
8 Aug 2011
More sophisticated than it advertises itself to be
Like the ‘grower, not show-er penis’ that Nathan Phillips tells us about, this act sells itself short, proving mercifully more sophisticated than it advertises itself to be; in fact, he’s quite the gentleman. The inescapable problem is that it doesn’t…
Matt Rudge
8 Aug 2011
Natural warmth let down by meandering dialogue
While he’s the sort of nice, respectable boy you might take home to meet your mother, Rudge isn’t lighting any fires in this lolloping show, which features meandering dialogue and humour with little spark. The routine seems a bit too earnestly…
Vinegar Knickers
5 Aug 2011
A well-titled ‘sketchy beast’
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…
Seymour Mace
25 Aug 2010
Odd, witty and unexpected gags galore
Since Mace has been accused of not putting enough of himself into his performance, he has thrown his whole lazy self into this year’s show. You’ll get a whole different kettle of joke to that of the mainstream Festival here with odd, witty and…
The Gentleman of Leisure
25 Aug 2010
Engaging and sharp
Tom Neenan and Nish Kumar are The Gentlemen of Leisure, bringing you an energetic and enlightening hour of satire and silliness. Although a little more on-stage chemistry between the pair wouldn’t go amiss, the duo are engaging and sharp, and pull off…
Shappi Khorsandi
23 Aug 2010
Falls disappointingly short of expectations
As Khorsandi’s reputation sky-rockets, her material about divorce and single motherhood falls disappointingly short of expectations. The show loses momentum for perceptible periods of time and if the jokes are a tad lacklustre, Khorsandi herself is…
Susan Murray
23 Aug 2010
Interesting and intelligent
Murray’s bold and playful set is nothing less than you’d expect from a Weegie with a Brummie accent. Although the show isn’t necessarily joke-heavy, this lady has done her research and the material is interesting and intelligent, particularly as Murray…
Crumpets, Muffins and Afternoon Teas(e)
16 Aug 2010
More unease than tease
Tammy Stone is an accomplished vocalist somewhat wasted on a set of bitter songs, too many of which end with the objet d’amour being killed and eaten by the bonkers songstress. Her lyrics have the potential to spin the gloriously inappropriate into…
Wendy Wason
16 Aug 2010
Intelligent, heartfelt and entertaining
Most of us tend to avoid airing our dirty laundry in public, but Wendy Wason is determined to squeeze secrets from every nook and cranny including family, friends and celebrities: not even her audience is safe. Wason is a natural-born chatterbox and her…
Lee Nelson
11 Aug 2010
If his game is satire he keeps it well hidden
Simon Brodkin seems to have carved a niche for himself as mouthy chav Lee Nelson, and what’s not to love about him shouting, swearing and crotch-grabbing? The mind boggles. If you’re prone to a boggling mind, or are hot on sentence conjugation, this one…
Nathan Caton
11 Aug 2010
Tackles issues of race with refreshing ease and sensitivity
After Breakfast at Stephanie’s, you’ll have got to know the whole Caton family. Nathan Caton is perfectly endearing, and his observations on family life are at once sharp and accessible: that unabashedly racist or generally ‘un-PC’ geriatric relative…
Geraldine Quinn
10 Aug 2010
Flash your flesh, your cash and your camel toe
In an era of ‘pop with no pants’, Geraldine Quinn explains how to be a singing sensation, even if you can’t sing: flash your flesh, your cash and your camel toe. Vivacious and confident, Quinn mercifully can hit a note, and her lyrics are wry and…
Tony Law
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10 Aug 2010
Some laugh-worthy material
Tony Law is by his own admission ‘loud and annoying’ and he has hit the nail on the head. The comic has some laugh-worthy material in his Brainporium, but it’s buried under the detritus of rambling, non-sequiturs and, at a particularly painful point…
Ray Green
9 Aug 2010
The 3D adventures of a two-bit character
Ray Green is an unabashed serial bumbler and the alter ego of Preston-born Dave Gibson. With a down-to-earth Northern charm and a moustache – the latter comes in handy when reaffirming your virility or being mugged, apparently – Gibson/Green’s hour of a…
