The Noise Next Door

Pleasance Dome (Potterow)

19:00

21-26 August

£13 (11 concession)

These five lads definitely have some skills. They use a mixture of character based comedy and prompts from the audience to create some improvised comedy routines, both embarrassing some and entertaining other members of the audience in equal measure. Thinking fast they show off their ability to create comedy out of everything from glass ornament Italian cuisine to sock fetishes and Hindenburg. You can tell these guys are destined for great things, as despite their youth they are already talented performers and comfortable on stage, managing to survive even the most random curveballs thrown at them, (Alfie Moon’s armpit hair)?,  reminding me of what I imagine it must have been like to catch Monty Python or Vic and Bob in their early years of comedy experimentation.

It wasn’t perfect, with a bit too much breaking into high-school musical style song for me, and a few times I felt they could have pushed themselves more, as they sometimes came back with obvious retorts, or ended the sketch before it truly descended into madness. That is truly scraping the critical barrel however as out of the many comedy shows on offer this is definitely a great way to spend an hour. Once the boys had warmed up they had moments of true genius. Haphazard and slapdash improvisational comedy at its best. FOUR STARS

Reviewer – Antionette Thirgood

Reviewer – Steve Vickers

Dan Nightingale

Pleasance Dome

Jul 31-Aug 11, 13-25,

5.30pm

£6

Dan is a Lancastrian comic from Preston with a very warm personality and to coin a phrase you can’t help liking him. For this Saturday evening gig the small venue at the Pleasance Dome was sold out with 75 people in the audience. The variety of punters provided Dan the opportunity to go with some good opening impromptu stuff. In the front row was a 14 year old boy with his parents (“my youngest audience member ever”) and at the back a very well behaved hen party! Early in the show Dan was showing some pretty unusual bumper stickers and one of them was I ‘heart’ Badgers. ‘I prefer otters’ Dan commented – “what about beavers?”  came a cry from the audience. Heckling comedy gold (or not depending on your point of view) but for sure a chance to improvise and engage with the audience. A chance that Dan did not make the most of. Then shortly afterwards a different heckler made a disparaging comment about Dan’s baldness. Dan did not want to go down that route either. The heckling was not aggressive or unpleasant. The crowd were in the mood to start their Saturday night out with a bit of a giggle and I thought that Dan could have made more out of the positive atmosphere.

The scripted material was very good and funny. I liked his description of the perils and pitfalls of advertising your wares on internet dating sites. I also liked the recollections of his former love affair with an actress and how going out with a drama queen can cause some interesting episodes. The section on his relationship with his young nephew did not completely work for me – heart-warming but not the sort of thing to provoke belly laughs. At the end of the show Dan complemented the audience for being nice and noted that some things seemed to go well and some things did not work so well. A pretty good self assessment I thought. A nice guy with a pleasant manner and a few funny stories. THREE STARS

Reviewer Chris Donkin

Review by Steven Vickers

Reviewer Steven Vickers

Matt Green

Pleasance Dome

Jul 31, Aug 1-11, 13-25,

20.10pm

£6

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Reviewer – Dava Moltby

Daniel Cainer

Gilded Balloon Teviot

31 July – Aug 26th

12.45

£5

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Cainer provides his enthusiastic audience with a comical and up-beat array of ditty’s  focusing on Jewish culture in South London. Humorous all the way, I rolled upon his chirpy banter all throughout his solid & sometimes funky performance. well worth a look. THREE STARS

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Reviewer – Cliff Perry

If these spasms could speak

Wed 31 Jul – Mon 26 Aug 2013

5.45pm

£8/£7 conc/£6

Pleasance Courtyard

    Disability is always a worthy subject to tackle and when it’s tackled by disabled people it makes it ever more valid. Not that this should guarantee a five star review, but when a show is performed with such confidence and energy it’s getting close. Robert Softley begins his show by imploring us not to be afraid of asking him to repeat sections we may not understand due to his speech impediment. But he needn’t worry. His performance was superbly eloquent and his fearless honesty, in particular in relation to his sex life and when he gets the audience to undress him, is captivating throughout. Not having many physically disabled friends myself the show was also a superb education in how to sensitively handle situations such as seeing wheelchair bound people struggling up a hill. Don’t assume the best thing to do is give them a push, they might be trying to get fit. He puts it far more wittily than this but I implore you to see the show to witness this, and many other comedic high points.

If I was to level any criticism at the show, however, I would say that the point at which he begins to recite other peoples experiences is initially a little unclear. The only clue being pictures of said protagonists being projected on the back wall. I suppose if I had done my research and read the write up before seeing the show I might of been prepared for this. But I didn’t so I wasn’t. I’m also a little bit thick. So I’m sure for all you intelligent people who do your research this won’t be a problem.

I’ll conclude by saying that if you want to see a show that is as funny as any stand-up, thought provoking as any piece of theatre and as entertaining as any movie, regardless of the worthy subject matter, If these Spasms Could Speak is the show for you. Not perfect, but that might be more down to my own flaws than the shows. FOUR STARS

Reviewer – Steven Vickers