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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
DAN ANTOPOLSKI - THE PRESENCE
Verdict: The magnificent Dan Antopolski
Edinburgh - The Pleasance - August 02
London - Latchmere Theatre SW11 - December 02
Mondays 2,9,16 December: box office 020 7978 7040
It's Dan Antopolski's last Edinburgh night, it's a full house, and they're fully under his spell. There's a walk-out or two - Dan's risky with his language, risky with his encounters too. But the rest of the audience loves him, and when he leaves at the end, it's to reckless applause.
Dan Antopolski is thin for a bear, but he's bear-like. The Teddy kind - aimable, up for a hug, hint of a growl. He bounds on, offers to shake a man's hand, pulls it away teasingly, and gives him a massive embrace - with the threat of more.
He finds a married couple, drops the word 'bitch'. 'That's what he calls me all the time', she says, 'We've been married 20 years'. Antopolski's astounded: she looks too young. 'You've been having sex for at least 20 years: how old are you?' Antopolski's after a rating of the man's love-making skills, out of 5. The man's blindfolded, his wife holds up 10 fingers. Phew. It's audience participation at industrial strength.
Antopolski admits he loves performing in Edinburgh, and Scotland generally. He admires the clan system: people wear turbans and pleated skirts called clits. They have a pouch called a sprocket in which they carry their young. They don't breast-feed, they can't, they're marsupials.
And he's off. The late Queen Mother's alcoholism and funeral, C-3PO, horses, and Tony Blair are covered on the run. Antopolski puts a mind-reading apparatus on his head and picks up thoughts from the audience. He reads a poem: 'Never get behind the Devil in a post-office: the Devil can take many forms.'
Back to the couple. 'How old are you, 23? Married when you were 3?' Two others in the audience are barristers. They run out. 'Bye, barristers.' Antopolski sings a song, rather beautifully, and talks arachnophobia, Darth Vader and James Bond. Two are up on stage for the next piece of audience participation: a height-measurement game illustrated by a graph, hosted by Antopolski. He interrogates another audience couple: he asks the man how he can be sure of his wife's love, when she comes home with her pants full of slop?
There's an estrangement happening between Antopolski's sock and his shoe. He puts them together and taps into their dialogue, while playing 'Careless Whisper'. He plays piano and discusses his slide rule, a 1978 model. Back to the earlier couple - 'Mrs Bitch' and husband. More words: there's a 'Fucking nigger typist' in a court case in the news. Antopolski quotes it, plays around with the words, chats about the idea of comedy giving offence, analyses it. He's fearless, and light, somehow manages to toss a dangerous set of balls in the air and keep them spinning.
Dan Antipolski delivers an astounding set, at the highest possible level of risk. He romps into areas other people either avoid or mess up. But he doesn't mess up. Somehow, perhaps by his ultimately endearing stage-presence, he's able to say and do the most outrageous things, and keep the audience (most of it) with him. He plays a full set, 80 minutes non-stop, that passes at an easy pace, without a feeling of haste. Strangely, given the content, it's a relaxing experience, and the audience comes out laughing.
END
John Park
reviewed Monday 26 August 02 / The Pleasance Courtyard Cavern
for profile of Dan Antopolski see Chortle
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
