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drinks Monday 4 August 08
Comedy-a-JoJo
Verdict: Fine character and stand-up comedy
London - Madame JoJos - 7 October
03
Comedy A JoJo is a fortnightly comedy night at the Soho venue Madame JoJos. It's programmed by Rohan Acharya. Tonight is the first night of the new winter season, and the venue is crammed full.
Tom Price compere's tonight's show. There's a 20-strong self-described hen party of cinema advertisers in the pit, and Tom Price ripartees with them gracefully through the night. Tall, slim, and Welsh, Tom Price excels at combative but ultimately soft-hearted close-fighting (verbally) with an up-for-it audience. (For previous Fringe Report reviews of this performer please use Search Box)
Gary Le Strange (Waen Shepherd). Tonight the fabulous Gary sings Ballerina, Japanese, Is My Toaster Sentient? (For full review see Gary Le Strange - Edinburgh 03).
Ed Wellesley-Smith (Ben Willbond). The urbane - and urban - Ed from Fulham is on the lookout for a girlfriend. Al-Barony's in Fulham may have gone, but Ed's found one in Leicester Square. Sublime. (For previous Fringe Report reviews of this performer please use Search Box)
Chris Addison. Tall, slim and handsome Chris Addison is a traditional altcom stand-up, forged in the steel of heckler-combat. Tonight he thrives on cat-calls from a full house, severing the jugular unerringly on each occasion. It's a very fast-paced set, and risky. He's very nearly knocked off the rails at the three-quarter point, but rallies magnificently and grabs the audience back for a triumphant finale.
Laurence & Gus (Laurence Howarth, Gus Brown). We're in Chorley, witness to a meeting between father (Laurence) and son (Gus). It's a neat satire on Northern working-class life (at least as we effete Southerners imagine that life to be), where oral sex and emotions are freely discussed, but love of football is a completely taboo subject. Dad and son become estranged, but in a touching finale at the hospital, following Dad's heart attack (during 'an orgy with the girls from the cheese-counter at Morrison's'), there's a moving - and football-based - reconciliation. Heart-warming, funny and elegantly-written character acting from two of the best.
Robert Newman's set powers along covering a startlingly diverse group of topics, mainly political. He's all in black, with 5 o'clock shadow, Teddy-Boy's hair, sideburns, and 3/4 length coat. He talks fast, and races across the territory: including tonight the Vietnam War, Invasion of Iraq ('Operation Play Station'), John Simpson's 'Scene of Horror', the destruction of the World Trade Centre, the Iraqi Information Minister, Feyadeen (compared to Dad's Army), Jo Strummer, Iran Contras, Mexican Fiesta de Candelada and Osama Bin Laden, and an inspired imitation of Bob Dylan playing at corporate gigs with ukulele. Robert Newman's quality of material and intellectual rigour tonight fully justify his reputation for creative comedy that's well ahead of the game. It's also very funny.
Henrik Elmer. The tall, elegant and gently endearing stand-up from the land of the mis-spelt turnip describes the life of a loner, gifted with unusual habits. (See earlier review 3 June 03).
Lady Agatha Bagshawe (Lizzie Roper). Lady Agatha welcomes the audience to her birthday party, where she's about to disclose the contents of her will. (See review of Lizzie Roper's full show Through My Keyhole, and the reading of Lady Agatha's will at Ealing Live).
Noel Fielding's territory is the imagination, in which he's a skilled artist. His feral fantasy Noel Fielding - Voodoo Hedgehog at Edinburgh 02, explored animal life from the animal's point of view. Tonight he concentrates on 'oblong', a word he finds displaced in adult-hood by the banal 'rectangle'. And what if he grew 'Weetabix hands'? We meet the Silver GreyMonkey, and the One Inch Man. The finale's A Pretty Sad Day In Punctuation Valley. Noel Fielding shows tonight his remarkable gifts: to colour-in his created worlds so vividly that they exist in the mind's eye; and to be the slightly dangerous beckoning guide around them.
The JoJo Dancers. Charlotte Alberry (choreographer, dancer with light hair), and Elly O'Brien (choreographer, dancer with darker hair) perform two sets, both inspiring. In the first they create dance elegance to MC Hammer's - U Can't Touch This. They're joined by Rohan Acharya & James Lamont, two large and surprisingly elegant male dancers.
In the second, Charlotte Alberry and Elly O'Brien dance to Eminem's Lose Yourself, with its anthemic line 'Success is my only motherfucking option'. The rap battle from Eminem's movie 8 Mile is replaced by a dance battle, here with male dancers Isaac, in white suit and trilby, and James.
DJ Jim Morrison plays 5 sets - start, 3 intervals, end; it's HipHop and BigBeat. Jim Morrison's cool, cigarette in mouth, can of Red Stripe to hand, headphones at throat, hands caressing his vinyl surfaces. Jim Morrison personifies Bowie's DJ line 'I think I've tantalised her', bearing in mind who Tantalus was. His art's a subtle balance of manipulation of and response to the dance-floor. His craft's the setting up of contrapuntal rhythms between the two decks, and blending one to the next. His aim's to match both the timing - to the 32nd of a beat - and the identical points in their respective musical sentences. If the end result sounds effortless to our feet and emotions, Jim Morrison goes to bed a happy man.
Credits - Comedy: (alpha order): Tom Price - Compere. Chris Addison. Gus Brown - (Laurence & Gus). Henrik Elmer. Noel Fielding. Laurence Howarth - (Laurence & Gus). Robert Newman. Lizzie Roper - (Lady Agatha Bagshawe. Waen Shepherd - (Gary Le Strange).
Credits - Dancers (in appearance order): The JoJo Dancers - Charlotte Alberry (choreographer) & Elly O'Brien (choreographer). Rohan Acharya & James Lamont. Isaac & James.
Credits - Company: Stage Manager - Nic Watson. Jake Wiltshire - Crowd Control. Technical Manager - John Charles. Jim Morrison - Decks.
Rohan Acharya, programming and promotion. Company - Underhand (alpha order: Rohan Acharya, James Galea, Matt Holt, Jim Morrison, Mike Smith, Nic Watson).
END
John Park
reviewed Tuesday 7 October 03 / Madame JoJos
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
