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.
American-born, Jewish Scot Jerry Sadowitz played the York Opera House on November 1st as part of his ‘Comedian, Magician, Psychopath!’ tour. In fact, the tour is the controversial comedian’s first in 25 years; he is known for his unique combination of magic and comedy, his offensive material, and his irrepressible onstage persona. He inspired a generation of comedians, and is quite possibly Great Britain’s answer to Lenny Bruce.
The show was split into two unequal halves, the first featuring the warm-up act and the second Sadowitz himself. The warm-up was provided by Mike Fabbri, an act which was richly varied and incredibly slick. Simply some of the best comedy I’ve seen in a long time: we’re talking sight gags, impressions, pull-backs, shock value - the works. Very, very impressive, clearly a confident performer and exhibiting a persona which matched his physicality. Spot on.
To say that Sadowitz’s performance was less conventional would be a huge understatement. It’s impossible to know what to expect, of course - Sadowitz’s performances have only rarely appeared on VHS, and have never been available on DVD or online, so unless you’ve seen him live before there’s no way to prepare yourself: suddenly, he’s onstage; a huge character, occupying the whole space, larger than life. At first I laughed out of shock, and then I laughed out of genuine fear, and then I just sat silently stunned for a while, and then I laughed because I’d finally cracked and the whole thing became hilarious; just as quickly, it’s over.
It’s a very strange experience, and one that’s not like any other stand-up show I’ve ever encountered. Sadowitz’s act is at once removed from social context, and loaded with it; it’s the closest possible thing to actually watching a show in the 80s, when comedy meant something. His references ranged from hugely anachronistic - complaining about David Blunkett and Columbo - to current affairs, with equal humour. The venue was far from crowded, and I was curiously aware that this was a kind of comedic throwback - but that didn’t make it any less funny.
The material was, of course, bluer than blue. But not only did Sadowitz combine comedy and magic, but also rhetoric - at one point, he quite eloquently says: ‘I fucking hate Stephen Fry; the humility is faked, the arrogance is genuine, and the authority is self-appointed.’ On the other hand, he often descends into complete gibberish, and his magic tricks are similarly ranged from genuinely impressive tricks to actual non-starters; at one point, he picks up two props, holds them for a while, then just abandons them with no explanation. It was baffling in more ways than one.
It’s all held together by the persona, that’s the key to the act. The effervescence, the insistent energy- that’s what keeps you laughing even when you don’t want to, even at jokes that, apart from anything else, make you feel a bit sick. But he’s constantly wearing you down, breaking down the barriers which prevent you from laughing, and his final assault, consisting of four or five top-class jokes in quick succession, is an absolute killer. You can never forget that, unlike other comedians, he answers to no one; he’s too controversial, too offensive to be controlled. That makes him, and his act, somehow more real than anything else you could see - as he himself points out, even Frankie Boyle pales in comparison.
Large tracts of the material left me nonplussed, but I was so constantly assaulted and belaboured by the persona (the leering, well-dressed man-witch) that there was no time for the energy to sag, no opportunity to lose interest. Of course, after a 25-year hiatus, Sadowitz’s stage show feels a little dated - but ultimately, in any age, this is not only amusing comedy but comedy with a power to it. It’s compelling, it’s timeless, and if it’s still doing the rounds in another 25 years the world will be a better place for it. I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who is easily offended, however - or, in fact, anyone who’s ever likely to be offended by anything.
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