home
|
about
|
news
|
contents
|
gossip
|
photographs
|
venues
|
brighton
|
dublin
|
edinburgh
|
film
|
features
|
interviews
|
awards
|
fashion
|
recipes
|
no more drinks
|
newsletter
|
links
|
contact
Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Sideshow Society
Verdict: Sketch comedy
London - Canal Café - November 04
Sideshow Society is sketch comedy from a team of 5 (4M, 1F) lasting 1 hour.
There's a bare stage with lilac star-covered backdrop, and 11 sketches intercut with Elvis Presley's 'A Little Less Conversation'.
Sideshow Society has a prime comedy asset of contrasting physical shapes, which they use skillfully, in the combination of Mark Logan (comfortably large), and Simon Ravenhill (slight and slender), the others lying between. For example Simon Ravenhill squares up to the more substantially built Dave Nicholds (as The Incredible Brendon) in a sketch that relies on this visual comedy - a sight gag emphasised by the substantial presence of Mark Logan as referee.
Andrea Wilson's a producer, Simon Ravenhill a camp director, and Laurence Saunders an argumentative actor in an audition sketch reinterpreting Cole Porter's Let's Call The Whole Thing Off. It works on the difference between reading and speaking. In a couple of sketches Andrea Wilson is a dedicatedly nagging wife to Dave Nicholds's resigned husband.
Prisoner Laurence Saunders helps out Mark Logan's Columbo-esque detective when a mythical technician inserts sound-effects, forcing the actor to lose his place. Like several of the sketches, it plays with different parts of the way audiences may expect actors and their characters to behave.
Laurence Saunders is a man subjected to his potential date's dad (Dave Nicholds) and predatory mum - bearded Mark Logan in dress and wig. There's a mime sketch with Dave Nicholds as The Mime Minister, skillfully negotiating his way out of a glass box in response to journalists' questions. When the rogue technician switches off the lights, a sketch about proverbs changes to a torch-lit ensemble singing of Close To You. A perverted Irish catholic priest meets a sexual athlete.
There's strong individual talent from each of the performers. The sketches are unusual and often original. There are some strong laughs from the audience as the show progresses.
At the moment, there's a feeling of something missing - the fission to make a potentially fine show funny. The mime sketch is clever, for example, but it's not always clear what each mime means. Extreme clarity could help, especially as this and other sketches are built on intended subtlety - which can blend to confusion for the audience. Overall the show feels 'almost there', but not there yet.
What may assist - as with any show in development - is a set of try-outs on the fringe to look at exactly what will work consistently. And a ruthless look at each sketch to see exactly what is intended to be funny. A strong external director could add shape, exactness and tight focus.
Tonight's show starts and concludes with a signature song by the cast 'We Are The Sideshow Society'. Once may be enough. At the end it spoils the impact of the best piece in the show - honed, witty, and exact - which would make a perfect finish.
It's a ballad sung with impish élan by the superb Andrea Wilson as a My Fair Lady flower-girl, backed by the rest as stage Cockneys. It's a brilliantly written cautionary tale - 'Don't Take It Up The Arse, Girl' - packed with the filthiest and most unexpected similes imaginable.
Cast Credits (alpha order): Mark Logan. Dave Nicholds. Simon Ravenhill. Laurence Saunders. Andrea Wilson
Company Credits: Written and directed by Sideshow Society. Technical Operator - Ross McGivern. Production Manager - Wendy Baker. Venue Credits: Canal Café Theatre: Box Office - Sho. Technical Director - Ross McGivern. Acting Artistic Director - Louis Brownhill.
END
John Park
reviewed Tuesday 2 November 04 / Canal Café
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
