Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
Adam Alcock reviews Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and his own Four Elements at York Opera House.
Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
Jonathan Cridford reviews 'Ghosts', one of the Freshers' plays for this year.
The final countdown to the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe is on, and with the merriment kicking off August 6th, comedians all over the country are currently fine-tuning a year's worth of their best material in anticipation. Monday night's comedy show at Harrogate Theatre was no exception. Featuring three of Britain's most exciting up-and-coming comedians – Dan Atkinson, Lloyd Langford, and Jon Richardson – the night saw the trio ably entertain a relaxed crowd with both solo stand-up and a collaborative new show, GIT.
Bath native and London man-about-town Atkinson acted as compere for the evening, introducing the show with some rather frantic, good-hearted banter and a particularly spiffy brown suit. Having lived and worked in York for years, he was well-prepared to make cracks about Harrogate and the surrounding area, which were met with roars of recognition from the audience.
Fresh from supporting fellow Welshman Rhod Gilbert on his nationwide tour and writing for Never Mind the Buzzcocks, an amiable Langford admitted right away that he was testing new material, but proved equally quickly that he had the skills to read and adapt to audience reaction. With a laid-back delivery and a sly half-smile, most of his jokes landed; however, a bit about pigeon fellatio in Trafalgar Square didn't fly so well with the slightly perplexed crowd. Undeterred, Langford bounced back with gusto and some more excellent observations about life in general, and killer whales in particular.
Rounding out the first half was Lancaster-born comic Jon Richardson. In the past few years Richardson has been increasingly hailed as one of the finest comics of his generation, and he showed his natural skills in spades. Whatever his subject matter – the World Cup; the North's endearing qualities; the eternal question of which are better, dogs or cats (dogs, obviously) – Richardson caught the audience's attention and kept it, seemingly without trying. With an engaging, light tone and tons of sharp, compelling material, he seems poised to have yet another break-out year in 2010-11.
The show's second half was given over to GIT, the trio's new Edinburgh show about social networking. Self-described as "a heady mix of jokes, chat, competition, argument and making value judgements about complete strangers" and done in quiz format, the show emphasizes the ridiculousness of the public nature of privacy in the Internet age, as well as the importance of determining which film Harrison Ford gets most naked in. After an entertaining hour of skewering lame MySpace profiles, embracing the banality of Twitter, and taste-testing Estonian liqueur (and with Atkinson declared the loser by the audience, thus being forced to buy an electric stove from Argos as punishment), the crowd left the theatre a half-hour late, but entirely happy.
GIT runs August 23-29 at Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh
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