The Man Who Knows Everything

• David Pollock
• 12 August 2016

This article is from 2016.

credit: Mr Suave

Comedy, clowning and real character in this great fun show

It's a shame to see this fun and beautifully well-executed comedy show crammed in to a Grassmarket hotel's meeting room which fits a couple of dozen at a very large push, because it's most certainly worthy of a larger stage.

A simple and silly two-hander, it features mime artist and clown Jack Stark as the title character, a man who tells us he does indeed know everything – which is fine when he's dashing off the number of months in a year, but not so much when one of the questioners in the audience demands he tell us how many trees there are in the world.

Stark's role here is fully speaking and very physical, playing alongside Anna Larkin in an equal – and equally demanding – part as his foil. The pair work well together, building a rapport with spark, very visual action (the closing magic trick is spectacular) and a bunch of fun props and audience interactions when The Man decides to tell us one of his many parable-like short stories.

It's unlikely you'll feel particularly educated after being asked whether you'd rather know a fact about 'insurance or bogies', but amid all the excitement lies a nice message for young ones about what knowledge really is.

Sweet Grassmarket, until 28 Aug, 11.30m, £7 (£5).