One doesn't really know what to expect from a
night labelled Quippodrome. The website, scarce and intriguing, offers little
explanation. A video plays in the centre of the website of past Quippodrome
evenings and I'm immediately thinking of early Mighty Boosh. Homemade costumes,
silly looking characters, exaggerated acting.
From the offset, the evening was welcoming. Compares Jack Evans, and Edy Hurst invite the audience to feel relaxed, and assure us that the evening is probably going to fail. But when it fails, it also works. The performers, clearly well versed in comedy, quickly manage to pick themselves up, find a response, and even on this occasion, lecture about Kangaroos killing Dingoes; all to bemused laughter. It's a journey for both the audience and the performers and not your regular comedy night.
The evening continues with Chris Cantrill who
has established himself around the UK as a comedian with a penchant to see the
funny side in life's (sur)real stories. His set changes the pace a little,
but the laughs keep coming.
After a short interval, we're welcomed back
for the main event, The
Quippodrome. The four players, Jack, Edy, Jayne and Jon perform a variety of
characters and vignettes, worthy of early Channel Four (or when Channel Four was
good|). It even kicks off with a very
Adam & Joe-esque title card and Evans’ Detective Inspector Horse-hand, who
wouldn't look out of place on Vic Reeves
Big Night Out. D.I. Horse-hand (a Holyrood experiment if
you were wondering) spins his surreal yarn about a whole menagerie of weird
equine-hybrid Scots people, and the audience loves it.
The melee of other characters who appear on
stage in unique, original acts continue. Dr. Love (yes, we've all heard of him,
but we've never actually met him!) gives us some tips on the best sex
positions, all with brilliantly graphic drawings.
"It's ok, the perspective may be skewed,
but she has breasts, so…"
The segue between the Crane Position and the
Fraser Crane Position drew the biggest laughs. We're literally taken on a
rollercoaster in the next act with a great use of a web-cam, a stick, and a
couple of straws. This part of the show seemed like a metaphor for the whole
evening, with its twists and turns, the ups, and the downs, and, of course, the
failures (I'd suggest gaffer taping the extension lead!).
The evening is drawn to a close with a
wonderful character from the comedic brain of Jayne Edwards. After all the high
testosterone, it's a welcoming relief to see Jayne, and her ‘pube art’ will stick in my mind like...
well, like a pube sticks in your teeth. Confidently Jayne’s character informs us
of how to make it in the porn industry when she was directing. A surreal little
story that wonderfully re-introduces the rest of the characters back on stage.
Overall, I've not seen anything like this
before. These guys have worked the circuit, and got bored with the scene. They
may be doing this for the love of comedy, and I hope they are, because that
rawness and passion, and the laughs they gave the whole audience was worth way
more than the door price. So much so, I'm going back next month.
Words: Colm Feeley
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