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.
It seems fitting that in their first big show of the year, Comedy Soc set out to showcase a selection of the comic outlets available to their newly paid-up comedians. The famous (or should I say infamous) Shambles made an appearance, as well as a variety of stand-up acts and sketches from other members of the Comedy Soc virtuosos. We were missing a taste of Have I Got News For York, Hit the Fan and Open Improv, for which the Society is famed, but the time constraints of the show can easily explain this lack. As an example of Comedy Soc talent, the evening was an ample cross-section.
A pity, therefore, that the audience largely consisted of regulars, for whom the second half, which contained sketches recycled from last year, may have been a little dull. Playing to a gathering of fans, however, does have its advantages. Accustomed to the style of improvisation games, The Shambles were rarely met with silence when they called for suggestions. The results were suitably hilarious, with one particularly memorable call out leading to members attempting to mime ‘detergent risotto from The Hanging Gardens of Babylon’! The troop offered up unexpected nudity for the Themed Restaurant game, Darth Vader and Gandhi in a flat share, Obamas walking into bars, evil future selves, swimming pools in space and the ‘sticky’ machinations of Dr Blu-Tack, to the delight of a largely appreciative audience.
Admittedly, some games lagged a little in the middle, but one thing the performers definitely deserve credit for was their ability to tie-up the improv in a suitable fashion. Their resolutions were invariably witty and surprising, meaning laughter frequently continued long into the following round. It was fascinating to watch the member’s various struggles and triumphs with the material given to them, with the performer’s clever manipulation of language in the ABC game providing particular pleasure (to this English student at least).
If I could find any other fault with The Shamble’s offerings, it would be that several of the members did seem to fall back upon the same comic characters for many of the games. Although these figures remained hilarious throughout, and I admit I haven’t seen even professional comedians do much different, it would have been nice to see them testing their limits a little more with a variety of personas. After a short break, Comedy Soc returned with a short line-up of sketches and stand-up acts. The sketches, as I have said, had been previously performed, and although these pieces were tighter and better rehearsed than the last time I heard them, the laughter was more restrained and less raucous than for the newer material. One couldn’t fault the two stand-up performances we witnessed however. Manraj Bahra’s dry witticisms raised roars of laughter (once everyone had figured out the joke) and Tom Taylor’s quirky song about ‘social socialists’ was both entertaining and frighteningly accurate.
The evening rounded to a close with a reminder about Comedy Soc’s upcoming events, as members and audience alike rose for an after-party drink in V-bar. The show was at times gruesome, provocative and just plain disturbing, but nevertheless thoroughly enjoyable. I personally hope to see the society pushing the boundaries even more in future shows, but, as a beginning, the event was undoubtedly promising.
You must log in to submit a comment.
