Curiouser and curiouser... - review of Robert Bone

Robert Bone: Demonstrator of Extra-Sensory Curiosities, at New Greenham Arts, Newbury, on Wednesday, September 7

MAGIC, feats of memory, achievements of mind over matter and hypnotic suggestion: Robert Bone, a professional magician and mindreader from Brimpton, crammed it all in to his 90 minute show and pulled it off with aplomb as he expanded his close-up magic and mind reading skills for a wider, and far larger audience at New Greenham Arts.

More used to performing his trickery while mingling with guests at social events, it was impressive that this was Bone’s first performance of his full-length show. He demonstrated well-filled arsenal of skills and techniques allowed him to bombard the audience with prestiges that virtually all hit their intended targets.

Particularly striking was his ability to sense objects while blindfolded with gaffer tape, slowing his pulse dramatically - verified by a midwife in the house - and demonstrating a memory feat by remembering specific words from three different books held by members of the audience.

Participants were selected at random to take part in various on-stage activities, including having their body language read to select the liar amongst truth-tellers, and selecting certain cards and letters, and having their hands glued together through hypnotic suggestion.

Of course it is impossible to write about this type of act without referencing master mentalist Derren Brown, a mention that Bone is unlikely to mind, as he quotes him on his poster. Similarly to Brown’s stage shows, Bone’s performance followed an arc, with all the set pieces being tied up nicely in the finale.

Dressed in a dapper three-piece suit, Bone had a delightfully affable air that appeared to make his participants feel relaxed, and an easy charm. It was a lovely, warm show, and while Bone may not yet have all the sparkle of a polished Vegas performer, he has a quirky persona that deserves to be seen by a larger audience than wedding guests. Saying that, his success as a wedding performer paid off on the night, as the audience included couples who had come to support him in his new venture.

Bone’s transition from magician-for-hire to stage performer deserves to be a success, and it can be hoped that his debut show, which was filmed for a showreel, leads on to exciting opportunities. And no - he didn’t hypnotise me to make sure I wrote nice things about him. At least, I don’t think he did...

• First published in the Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, September 15, 2011

Dishing up a laugh - review of Dinnerladies

Dinnerladies at The Corn Exchange, Newbury, from Thursday, June 9 to Saturday, June 11

ADAPTED from Victoria Wood’s much-loved late-90s sitcom, the Dinnerladies stage show saw the factory canteen and its employees transposed lock, stock and toaster into the theatre. With Wood and most of the main television cast members a little bit busy with other projects, it was mainly up to a cast as fresh as the canteen’s daily-delivered bread to bring the well-known characters back to life, and they did so with performances that verged on spot-on impressions.

The exception was Andrew Dunn, reprising his role as steadfast canteen manager Tony, whose presence in the production is a useful lynchpin as a link back to the source material. Also joining the cast for this tour was Sue Devaney, “Jane from the planning department” in the television series - who, after a brief appearance onstage in that character, drew gasps of surprise and delight when she reappeared as Petula, the geriatric mother from hell. It was an excellent performance considering she was paying tribute in it to the near-irreplacable Julie Walters; a task possibly even more challenging than that faced by Laura Sheppard, taking on Wood’s central role of Bren, the outwardly dappy but inwardly complex canteen worker.

Adapted from Wood’s television scripts rather than an original storyline, the story (at least in the second act) mainly followed events of the final series, with Bren attempting to win money on a quiz show to fulfil her and Tony’s dream in the face of imminent redundancy. It resulted in quite a bit of plot being crammed into two acts. but still retained the gentle pace of the on-screen version, partly because it could be safely assumed that most audience members would remember the series well, and therefore not need too much background information.

Its reliance on the source material meant that the show had Wood’s dry and often hilarious wit and focus on health, aging and bodily functions stamped all over it, although those who knew the series very well were likely to have found the jokes a little less lustrous for being well-remembered. However, as a revisiting of a sitcom thought of by many with much fondness, it was a heart-warming celebration presented and received with a great deal of goodwill.

• First published in the Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, June 16, 2011

A Dickens of a show - review of Gerald Dickens, An Audience With Charles Dickens

An Audience With Charles Dickens, at Arlington Arts Centre, Snelsmore, on Friday, January 21

THE actor great great grandson of one of Britain’s most celebrated authors, Gerald Dickens was surely destined in some way to bring his ancestor’s work to the stage. As it happens, although his books are now well known through their many transitions to stage and screen, as well as enduring in print, Dickens himself became famed for public readings from his pages, and so recreating such performances has become Gerald Dickens’ calling.

Dickens Junior explained how his great great grandfather’s love of the theatre helped bring his characters to life, not just in the readings he performed towards the end of his life, but also in their creation, as he was observed by his daughter pulling faces and trying out voices in the mirror during his writing process.

After a dabble in amateur theatricals that brought him to the attention of Queen Victoria, Dickens fulfilled his longing to tread the boards for the last two decades of his life through the public readings of his work that were to bring him even more fame, a goodly fortune and, some consider, to an early grave.

It is possible that Dickens’ health was hit hard, not only by the trials of touring both Britain and the USA, but also by the intensity of these live performances. Far from staid readings, Dickens threw his all into every performance, in particular a specially-written three-act reading of the murder of Nancy in Oliver Twist - judged for its success each night by how many ladies in the audience fainted.

And so Gerald Dickens now brings to life some of the colourful characters of Dickens’ work, from a Gollum-like Uriah Heap to the schadenfreude of Mr and Mrs Micawber, on a stage laid out how Dickens himself would have had it on his tours, draped in red velvet and with a raised block on which to rest his arm as he read.

The second part of the evening was a one man performance of Nicholas Nickleby, with Dickens demonstrating his talent and passion for his ancestors characters as he took on such roles as the deeply unpleasant schoolmaster Wackford Squeers, ailing pupil Smike, and the demure Fanny Nickleby and her various unwanted suitors.

After such an enlightening and enjoyable first half, which would have stood alone in its own right as a perfectly acceptable evening’s entertainment the idea of an hour-long performance seemed something of an obligation come the interval, and others in the audience may have felt this quite strongly as there were a few empty seats on returning to the auditorium.

However, Gerald Dickens held the attention well as he presented his abridged version of the story, which first inspired his intense interest in his ancestor’s life and works when he saw it performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1980s. That production was eight hours’ long, which was probably harder going than Dickens’ lively and energetic 60-minute dash. It may have made the evening slightly longer than required for an amusing Friday night’s entertainment, but Dickens’ fascinating performance certainly lived up to any great expectations.

• First published in the Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, January 27, 2011

Gogolplex - review of Newbury Youth Theatre, Gogol's The Portrait

Newbury Youth Theatre present Gogol’s The Portrait, at The Corn Exchange, Newbury, on Saturday, July 30, and The Quaker Meeting House, Edinburgh, from Monday, August 8 to Saturday, August 13

HAVING built up a reputation at the Edinburgh Fringe over the past 15 years as a force to be reckoned through their powerful ensemble productions, Newbury Youth Theatre will be returning to Scotland on Monday with another vibrant performance, this time based on a short story by 19th century Russian author Nikolai Gogol.

Adapted and directed by Amy and Tony Trigwell-Jones and devised by the company, this was a story fizzing with thrills, shocks and humour, as a crowd gathered at an auction house to observe the sale of an infamous portrait, said to bring doom to its owners “as the devil changes hands”. Using the bric-a-brac surrounding them, the crowd told the history of the portrait, and its subject, a mysterious moneylender whose loans similarly led to disaster for those obliged to borrow from him.

With the ensemble cast of 17 made up with ghostly faces in varying shades of pale, this was a spooky tale, but one shot through with a strong sense of humour and a big dose of jollity, as portraits came to life, ghosts wafted into dreams and ghastly deaths were recreated through physical theatre, slapstick, clowning, shadowplay and puppetry.

An ingeniously designed set filled with picture frames, atmospheric music played on broken instruments (and beautifully-tuned water-filled jam jars) and folk-style songs and costumes reflecting the Russian setting added further strength to an impactful and, most importantly, fabulously entertaining performance.  In the telling of a morality tale warning of the dangers of creating art for gain and glory rather than for its own sake, the wholehearted investment of the entire Newbury Youth Theatre company into the production was clear.

The result was a devilish delight of dark pleasures, which deserves to wow once again in Edinburgh.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, August 4, 2011

Out on his Moloney - review of John Moloney

Newbury Comedy Festival: John Moloney at New Greenham Arts, Newbury, on Saturday, July 23

NEWBURY Comedy Festival has been a most civilised affair this year. Spread comfortably over 20 days, it has included big names (Mark Watson and Rory Bremner),  delightful treats (Running On Air, performed to an audience of five in a campervan), the welcome return of old favourites (Clare Plested) and slightly baffling performance poetry (You Look Like Ants). There was even a pleasing last-minute addition in the form of Dave Gorman, previewing his Edinburgh Fringe Powerpoint Presentation at New Greenham Arts on Thursday (I did see it, but he doesn’t want reviews - I think it’s alright to say that it was rather excellent, though).

And so, eventually, the comedy festival drew to an end on Saturday, with two seasoned performers - Joe Pasquale at The Corn Exchange, and John Moloney at New Greenham Arts. Moloney’s performance was a warm-up before returning to Edinburgh Fringe for a short run with his 2010 show Butterflies With Stretchmarks; an opportunity to ensure that he remembered it all (it looked like he did), and to bring it up to date with some relevant topical asides.

Butterflies With Stretchmarks was a lovely, gentle monologue focussing on the small things in life. From the noise his cat made when the vet surprised it with a thermometer (“Maugh”. Moloney spelt it for us.) to minute observations remembered from earlier life experiences out on the pull (hence the title of the show - it refers to tattoos), Moloney wove the mundanity of the everyday into a word painting, and left the audience well alone to relax into the evening without fear of reprisal.

There was nothing earth-shattering about the subject matter of Moloney’s whimsical musings, but his delivery was pure craftsmanship; the creation of a comedian who has spent years honing his work. A former German teacher, Moloney’s love of language and linguistics is central to his performance (and also elicits the trivia gem that the German word for nipples translates as “breast warts"). When the even the scatological and the curmudgeonly is transformed into poetry, you know that you’re in the safe hands of a comedy journeyman who is fully at ease in his work.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News, Thursday, July 28, 2011

Mills & boom - interview with Chris Mills

NEWBURY community venue Ace Space has scored a coup this month by securing the services of cult singer-songwriter Chris Mills for a night of hard-hitting Americana on Friday, September 16. Catriona Reeves spoke to him at the start of his eight-date UK tour, bringing his highly-regarded music over from Chicago 

Catriona Reeves: You started off at school in a speed metal band - when did you discover that folk/alt country was really more to your taste?

Chris Mills: I don’t know that I would say that any genre is actually more to my taste than any other. But as I got into my late teens I started to really appreciate great songwriters – starting off with Dylan, as we all do, and then moving on to people like Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson and Lou Reed. 

Looking back , I think that was what I was always after; even in my high school metal bands we played things because we liked the songs. There is a big difference between good speed metal and bad speed metal, and we only played the good stuff.

CR: Your current album, Heavy Years: 2000-2010,  is a career restrospective - can you tell me a couple of your favourite songs on there, and why you're so fond of them?

CM: That’s like choosing between your kids! I really like all of the songs on the record, but I think I’ll always look back on the songs from my Wall To Wall Sessions album (Farewell To Arms, You Are My Favorite Song, Escape From New York) with particular fondness. The three days I spent making that record, in one giant room with 16 other people all playing at the same time, is one of my favorite memories of all time.

The closing track, Signal/Noise is also one of my favorites. It was the first high concept track I ever did, the first one where I pushed the production side of beyond anything I’d done up to that point. And I’m really proud of the writing on that one, as well.

CR: Is there anything you enjoy particularly about touring in the UK? How does it compare over here with the Chicago scene where you started out, or US audiences in general?

CM: I’ve always loved playing in the UK. People there have a real appreciation for songwriters, and when they go to see them, they actually take the time to listen and find out what’s really going on. The States is a great place to be from, but I definitely think it’s more difficult as a solo performer to gain traction there. Chicago and New York both have amazing music scenes, but the country as a whole is so big it can make it difficult to reach everyone.

CR: Are there any other European/worldwide countries where you are particularly well received? Anywhere that you wouldn't have necessarily expected?

CM: I’ve actually been spending a lot of time playing in Scandanavia, teaching school kids about American political folk music. The fact that that’s become part of my regular musical life was definitely something I never expected. But it also gives me the opportunity to play my own music in a lot of clubs and at festivals there, and has allowed me to slowly nurture a pretty devoted fan base over the years.

CR: What are your plans for the future? What can we expect from the album 2010-2020? More Heavy Years?

CM: I’m currently recording an EP with some guys in Oslo that may see release sometime next year, and I’m building a library of other new songs that I hope to record sometime in the next few months.

As for the next 10 years: who knows?

* Chris Mills will be supported at Ace Space, St Nicholas Road, Newbury, on Friday, September 16, by Pete Gow and Jim Maving playing as Case Hardin Acoustic, and other acts to be confirmed. Doors open at 7.30pm; tickets cost £6 in advance from Hogan Music in Craven Road and Jacqui’s Shop in  Blenheim Road, or on the door while still available.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, September 8, 2011

Intimate experiences - review of Laura Mugridge, Running On Air, and Stuart Silver, You Look Like Ants

Newbury Comedy Festival: Running On Air, at The Corn Exchange, Newbury on Tuesday, July 12, and You Look Like Ants, at New Greenham Arts, Newbury on Thursday, July 14

PROVING that Newbury Comedy Festival isn’t just about the big names and television faces, two smaller shows in town this week also demonstrated that sometimes comedy doesn’t just have to embrace the big laughs - sometimes it  can also be life-affirming,  heartwarming, thought-provoking and mind-expanding.

Fitting the first of those two descriptions very nicely was Running On Air - not performed in The Corn Exchange itself, but out the front, inside the vintage VW campervan called Joni owned by comedian Laura Mugridge. With an audience capacity of five, the setting takes both the concepts of “intimate” and “audience participation” to a new level, with singing, tape deck control, spice jar percussion and the obligation of someone to take on the role of Mugridge’s husband all required as we cosied up together.

Mugridge’s Edinburgh Fringe First Award-winning tale was heartffelt and true, exploring her ambivalence between life as a touring comedian and the draw of her life at home, with a new husband and the desire to start a family. Touring and performing in her beloved-but-temperamental Joni, she explained, was her compromise, taking part of her home with her on the road - although from her tales of myriad breakdowns (both car and owner) it’s possibly not turned out to be the most stress-free way of solving her dilemma.

Her warm conversational style and the delightfully strange setting made for a memorable experience, although sometimes it was easy to forget it was a performance, and the rhetorical questions weren’t there to be answered. “Have children now!” I wanted to say. “It’s never the right time! Just do it!”. But I didn’t. I knew my place, and that place was to play the swanee whistle to indicate falling temperatures (apparently I do an excellent “sad face”). And anyway, much as the campervan may be loved by Mugridge, her unreliability may mean that she would not be the ideal family getabout. I suspect Mugridge may need a little longer with Joni before she moves on to another kind of baby.

You Look LIke Ants, presented by writer-performer Stuart Silver was a philosophical, poetic performance piece, accompanied by Silver’s own virtuosic playing of the electric ukulele. Intriguing, hypnotic, and wavering throughout between amusing and bizarre, this was a balladic search for the meaning of life through the advice of others, with intertwined storylines featuring the most unlikely of characters, including Richard & Judy, Mark Knopfler and a talking rabbit. I will never listen to Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms again without thinking of Silver’s ukulele and that rabbit.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, July 21, 2011

Invasion of the supersized minibeasts - review of Sarruga, Insectes - A Night Carnival

Is this your photo? Please contact me so I can credit you!

Insectes - A Night Carnival, in Newbury town centre on Saturday, July 16

LESS than a week after the “real” Newbury Carnival, the concept was turned on its head on Saturday night as mini beasts became supersized for an eerie and atmospheric crawl through the town centre. The darkening air was filled with hissing smoke, glowing lights and banging tunes, as the crowd screamed with delight and fear as two giant ants, a spider and a praying mantis crept among them as if searching for prey, their spiky legs forever moving as they made their way up Northbrook Street and into the Market Place. 

There was no escape even for those cowering behind, as a tenacious venus flytrap swung over the heads of the crowd, snapping its fearsome jaws close to them.

The parade culminated in the Market Place, with a deadly showdown between the spider and the praying mantis, as slowly the other  insects and plants stopped moving and dimmed their lights. With the cyclists powering the mechanisms hidden from view, and the audience gathering in a more unstructured manner than they had been along the route, it truly looked like the beasts were walking over the heads of the crowd, until finally the praying mantis became the victor. It may have had a little trouble getting over the water bridge, but in the battle between mantis and spider, the mantis had the edge.

Hosted by The Corn Exchange and funded by Greenham Common Trust, Spanish artists Sarruga presented the Insectes carnival with the help of local volunteers who helped to build and cycle the machines. With the rain stopping just in time for the event, the parade was a ray of dark light for the community. With funding cuts for arts projects fast taking hold nationwide, the input of the Greenham Common Trust to make such thrilling and exciting free events happen in Newbury is to be welcomed and applauded. Long may it continue, as the people of West Berkshire wait with anticipation to see what amazing experience will next bring the crowds flooding into the town.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, July 21, 2011

Joly good - review of Dom Joly

Newbury Comedy Festival: Dom Joly at The Corn Exchange, Newbury on Saturday, July 9

I CAN’T say that there’s many live stage shows which end with the audience running screaming from the auditorium (or at least attempting to, until they start to bottleneck and feel a tad self conscious about the screaming). But then, this is a show presented by hidden camera legend Dom Joly, where the unexpected is to be expected.

Ending with a mass audience “reaction” stunt to potentially be used as the trailer for Joly’s planned film War Of The Flea (I suspect we won’t make it into the final cut, although the clip can be voted for at www.facebook.com/officialdomjoly), the evening also featured a rock & roll guitar-smashing experience, clips and stills from Joly’s various television shows and globe-trotting adventures, and, of course, a giant mobile phone.

Joly appears to be a man with a talent in search of a niche - and possibly a television channel. This wasn’t a stand-up show, rather an autobiographical look at his career, starting with the mass cult success of Channel 4’s Trigger Happy TV and its expensive international follow-up World Shut Your Mouth (binned by the BBC when it realised that jetting to Newfoundland for the sole purpose of “frightening an Eskimo” possibly wasn’t the most justifiable outlay of taxpayers’ cash).

He then told some very amusing tales from his Sky series Dom Joly’s Happy Hour, an alcohol-fuelled trip around the world, and briefly reminisced about his appearance in I’m A Celebrity... last year (he came fourth), when he learnt how to keep sane from Shaun Ryder, who directed his fellow “prisoners” to steal gaffer tape and pens from the production crew in order to beat the system, and for which he will forever be known as “the man Stacey Solomon chucked a stone at”.

Rather strangely, the audience were given the opportunity to recreate this moment, but only through the purchase of felt-covered “stones” during the interval at £1 a pop. They were rather nice, and if I had bought one, I would rather have held on to it. Such blatant fund-raising may have see med a little mercenary, but as Joly pointed out, he needed to cover the costs of 70 guitars to be smashed - one for each night of the tour - and noticing a spike in sales at one of their stores, Argos had put the price up.

Joly was born and brought up in war-torn Beirut, and despite now being settled in the Cotswolds, his urge to experience different countries and cultures remains strong. As well as a “serious” career as a travel writer, he recently published a book, Dark Tourist, about some of the world’s more macabre holiday destinations (I bought it afterwards - it’s a good read), resulting in some revealing tales about North Korea and Chernobyl (he had a great sense of deja vu in visiting the nearby ghost town of Pripyat, before realising that the video game shoot-em-up Call Of Duty was based there)

Afterwards, at the book signing, Joly admitted that he was rather ill, and had in fact cancelled the previous two nights’ dates. “I’m not sure how it came across, tonight, but it was great in my head”, he told me. Luckily it was pretty good outside of his head as well. Slightly odd, but different. And there’s nothing wrong with that. 

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, July 14, 2011

Masters of the dark arts - review of Barry & Stuart

Barry and Stuart Live at Arlington Arts, Snelsmore, on Thursday, June 30

TWO cheery and handsome young Scotsmen, Barry Jones and Stuart MacLeod have known each other since their early teens, when they were arch rivals in the Scottish Young Magician of the Year competition. The result is one of those double acts that work so well together that you can’t imagine them ever being parted (unless it was during a sawing-in-half stunt). It is also eerily impossible to remember which one is which, although I tried to seal it into my memory while watching the show. I reckon they played some sort of mind trick on me.

Too rambunctious to be truly spooky, the duo focus on making the dark side of magic a jolly affair, and in the process have made conjuring cool for a new generation (although I suspect their funky haircuts help as well). Championed by none other than Derren Brown, they have reached tellyland prominence through primetime Saturday night BBC1 show The Magicians, and are world-renowned, having won the Best Comedy Illusionists gong at the World Magic Awards in 2009.

Their tricks were a joyful mix of gore, gasps, slapstick and reverential nods to the more intriguing traditions of magic and the so-called supernatural. Particularly mindblowing was a “white noise” video played, in which a spooky face appeared when viewed through the camera on a mobile phone. They have a similar trick available on their BBC Three website at www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/pages/barryandstuart. Give it a go - it’s genuinely eerie.

My only niggle would be that it might have been fun to have selected those sitting beyond the front row to be audience participants (although I was relieved to be snugly ensconced out of the danger zone). But the twosome’s magical appearance in the foyer before the audience had filed out of the packed auditorium, and their willingness to oblige with photos and autographs meant that none of their many fans had to miss out. Delightfully silly, this pair proved that magic doesn’t have to be inaccessible to be exciting.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, July 7

Flights of fantasy - review of SLY Theatre, Kes

Kes, by SLY Theatre, at New Greenham Arts on Tuesday, June 28 and Wednesday, June 29

I REMEMBER writing a story for the Newbury Weekly News about the launch of Shining Lights Youth (SLY) Theatre back in 1999, so it’s great to see the company still going strong, resident at New Greenham Arts, and having seen alumni move on to professional work, such as Alec Hopkins, who played the young Severus Snape in the fifth Harry Potter film.

The aim of SLY is to produce drama that challenges both its members and audiences, and it certainly did so with its latest production, based on the classic novel A Kestrel For A Knave by Barry Hines. Transposing the story 15 years forward from its source material to the early 1980s brought in extra elements of tension into the action - rudderless juvenile delinquent Billy Casper’s taking of the fledging kestrel from its nest would have been a criminal act after the 1981 Wildlife & Countryside Act, while his future looked even more hopeless with the added knowledge that the steady-but-dull employment  lined up for him at the mine would not be a job for life after all.

Keeping the action in Yorkshire was an opportunity for the 10 actors to face the challenge of the regional accent and dialect, which they did so with great dedication. Indeed, the entire performance was an intense experience, as the entire cast were in camera at virtually all times, constantly fluttering the pages of books (possibly copies of A Kestrel For A Knave - I couldn’t tell from my seat) and watching Elliot Laker as Billy intensely, their eyes forever following him as he immersed us in the teenager’s isolated and misunderstood life.

With the story focused around Billy’s relationship with Kes, the young kestrel he tames and trains, another challenge for the company was representing the raptor, which they did with feathered set dressings and lighting which stained the feathers with a flash of red when Billy discovered Kes’ body.

The ensemble cast each took on several roles, creating excellent character pen portraits in their walks and mannerisms, such as Anna Roberts’ prim librarian, Natalie Poernig as both Billy’s careworn mother and his caring teacher Miss Farthing, and Conor Holt as Jud, the jack-the-lad older brother whose immature reaction to a perceived slighting resulted in the destruction of both the bird and Billy’s hope. All involved in SLY can be proud of this stylish, affecting and powerful production, which retained both the bleakness and dark humour of the source text.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, July 7, 2011

Mark Watson, by request - interview

THE good people of Newbury are particularly fortunate to have comedian Mark Watson paying them a visit next week. His current tour schedule has been compiled from “Request Stops” suggested by fans, taking him to towns he has rarely - if ever - visited before, such as Wimborne, Bromsgrove and Chorley.

Newbury, however, is a special case, as Watson himself admits. “I have been to Newbury a few times, including during the comedy festival last year. But that wasn’t a ‘real show’ as I was warming up for Edinburgh, so this will be the real thing. For some of the other stops on the tour I’ve been performing some “greatest hits”, but at The Corn Exchange I’ll try to concentrate on new material, as it’s more likely that people will have seen me before.”

Having become a father last year, understandably some of this new material touches on parenthood and entering his 30s, but Watson is a bit wary of devoting too much of the show to this - “a lot of comedians are doing that at the moment. Other than that, there will be plenty of my general ranting, which is my stock-in-trade, and saying whatever comes into my head. I have material that I  am comfortable with, but I do like to go off on tangents. Some shows are quite chaotic.” 

Watson says that he still finds a joy in performing live, something which has been particularly refreshed by the fact that this tour is taking him to some places where comedians rarely venture. “Sometimes people are gorged on comedy; if they don’t get to see so much the audiences can be really receptive,” he explains.

Much of the freedom to pick and choose material on this current tour arises from the fact that Watson has only planned eight performances at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, rather than hunkering down for the entire three-week slog with an entirely new show. “The stakes are high in Edinburgh, and by the time people come to Newbury Comedy Festival they want their show to be working well. But I don’t have to worry about that, which is liberating.

“I definitely have more control over my career than I did three or four years ago, and I don’t feel I have to take on everything that comes my way. It gives me more time to write, and gives me a better chance of balancing family life with touring . It’s still a challenge though - my wife puts up with a lot.” Watson has stepped back from guesting on television panel shows “as they don’t tend to suit me”, but he recently took on the role of host for a pilot improv show, due to be shown on Dave next month.

With radio in the pipeline and a new novel (his fourth) being written for release next year (he’s also written a non-fiction book about his attempt at “green living”), he isn’t exactly kicking back and relaxing. However, he has given up performing marathon stand-up shows, the longest of which was 36 hours, at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2006. “I probably won’t do another one - as the dad of a toddler, my entire life is like that now. It’s physically and emotionally draining, and it puts an immense strain on your loved ones. But I am tempted sometimes to do just one more. That would close the story.”

Mark Watson will be performing a show of normal length when he makes his “Request Stop” at The Corn Exchange during Newbury Comedy Festival on Tuesday, July 5. The festival starts on Monday, July 4 with Russell Kane at New Greenham Arts, and runs until July 16.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, June 30, 2011

Drawing out the meaning of life - review of Little Howard and the Magic Pencil

LIttle Howard and the Magic Pencil of Life and Death, at The Hexagon, Reading, on Friday, February 5, 2010

As CBBC viewers will know, Little Howard may only be an animated six-year-old, but he’s not frightened of some pretty big questions, asking them regularly in his television series, Little Howard’s Big Question.

So, when experiencing feelings of jealousy towards his human sidekick “Big” Howard Read’s baby son Samson, Little Howard isn’t afraid of asking some of the biggest existential questions of all: Would he be more real if he wasn’t two-dimensional? Why hasn’t he got a nose or ears? Can Big Howard sell Samson?

Little Howard thinks he’s found the answer when Big Howard shows him the Magic Pencil of Life and Death which he was drawn with, but Cartoon Death wants the pencil too, and possibly utilise the eraser at the other end...

Whether entirely two-dimensional, or undertaking coloured glasses-enhanced 3D adventures, Little Howard “live” was just as a believable a character as in his television series, despite being confined by logistics to a giant screen or Big Howard’s laptop. His witty repartee with Big Howard and the audience belied his tender years, and appeared so natural that it was hard to remember it would have all been pre-prepared.

Little Howard may be a 2D character, but his audience interaction was fully-rounded, as he demonstrated his inability to catch a ball (although it could knock him over quite convincingly), and he and Big Howard conducted a game of human Guess Who?. 

George was blown away by the 3D elements of the show, and I’m sure Read and co-animator Martin White would be delighted to hear that their work stands up in the mind of a seven-year-old to that of Avatar. Meanwhile, I particularly enjoyed the songs, including the “strangely soothing” ukulele-backed Unpleasant Lullaby, designed to paralyse any child in their bed through fear for the entire night.

“Even funnier than the Chuckle Brothers” was George’s verdict, and I must admit, I’m really rather excited myself that another two series of Little Howard’s Big Question have been commissioned by the BBC. And I would like Little Howard to know that if Big Howard ever gets too distracted by Samson, he can always come live in my laptop.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, February 11, 2010

Hilariously tall tales - review of Greg Davies

Greg Davies at The Corn Exchange, Newbury on Friday, June 17

I DON’T like to use the word “hilarious” in my reviews of comedy for the Newbury Weekly News - partly because not all the acts I see hit the “hilarious” button enough times to deserve it, but also because if I describe a comedian’s performance as hilarious, where do I go from there? What if I see someone even more consistently, side-achingly, tear-inducingly funny the following week? What word do I use to describe them?

But I have decided on this occasion to take the plunge. So, here goes... Greg Davies is hilarious. His show, Firing Cheeseballs At A Dog, elicited laughs, guffaws, chuckles and titters from beginning to end. His support act, Ed Gamble, was pretty good as well, which isn’t always a given. Davies apologised if some of his material was familiar to the audience who may have seen his recent appearance on TV channel Dave, “but I have extended the show since then”.

In fact, he had brought it in a shortened embryonic form to Newbury in April 2010 as part of The Big Laugh comedy event put on by The Corn Exchange’s youth committee (he’s also previously performed at Newbury Comedy Festival as part of the sketch trio We Are Klang). No matter; it was excellent then, but an Edinburgh Fringe run and an inordinate number of tour dates later, Davies has lovingly honed the show into a well-crafted run through some of the most bizarre “true’ moments from his life, introducing some fabulously freakish characters along the way, including his magnificently eccentric parents.

Whizzing through some more ignominious periods of his life - his university years were summed up as “Drunk. Pathetic. Single” - in favour of the long, dark teatime of the soul which was his teaching career, Davies was wonderfully self-deprecating (describing his toddler self as resembling Mr Tickle) without ever slipping into maudlin introspection. He teetered in his tales and their telling just on the right side of “man of the people” rather than wobbling over into “worryingly strange”. He happily jumped into the audience to find a “young person”, and bravely let it slip that he was off to The Dolphin pub after the show to see a mate’s band. I bet they suddenly had an influx of new customers in there around 11pm on Friday.

The next comedian I see has a lot to live up to [it might be Mark Thomas during Newbury Comedy Festival in July, so to be fair, he’s likely to do a pretty good job ]. For now, I will pack the word “hilarious” away, having reserved it for Davies alone. I hope he uses it wisely and liberally.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, June 23, 2011

In a room... with Dodgy - review

Dodgy at South Street Arts Centre, Reading, on Saturday, June 4

AUGUST 1996. Reading Festival. I'm working on the Saturday, but "no worries," says Bill, "come down later, we'll probably be at the main stage, somewhere on the left - don't be late for Dodgy!". Hmm. Vague. Anyway, early evening I make it onto the festival site; Dodgy are already on. I wind my way through the crowd towards the front of the main stage, keeping towards the left - and just as Dodgy start playing my favourite song, Grassman, I spot Bill's leather jacket. Sorted.

OK, so Reading Festival back then wasn't the immense crush of more recent years, and I do have a theory that we all used to have built-in satnav which was switched off when we all got mobile phones, but I like to believe that it was the magic of Dodgy that made a seemingly impossible meet-up very straightforward indeed.

June 2011. South Street Arts Centre, Reading. I'm not going to have much trouble finding Bill at this gig, as the room only holds a couple of hundred people (but there he is, down the front, on the left). Appearing as a favour for an old muso friend, the organiser of Reading's Know Your History club night (which aims to mark major musical anniversaries), Dodgy have not only agreed to play for a cut-price rate,  but are obliged to perform a track off The Smiths' album The Queen Is Dead, which was released 25 years ago. Their attempt at There Is A Light That Never Goes Out is not exactly the musical accomplishment of the night, but it would amuse all but the most hardcore Smiths fans. Luckily there don't seem to be many of those in tonight.

Dodgy have been back in the shape of their classic line-up (Nigel Clark, lead singer and bassist, Andy Miller, guitarist, and Matthew Priest, drummer) since 2007, but this was the first time that I've seen them since the 90s - when I saw them many, many times. Older they may be, wiser they may not be, but the trio's vocals still blend together together in perfection, on old hits such as Staying Out For The Summer and the epic and uplifting So Let Me Go Far (but sadly not Grassman - I've since had words with them about that), and newer tracks from more recent and forthcoming albums.

One thing I always loved about Dodgy back in the day was their sense of fun, and it's good to see that has remained intact despite the passing years, as they banter with the crowd and each other throughout their set. As a microphone slipped down its stand, Nigel bravely battles on with the song, straddling lower and lower until he is all legs akimbo, like a dubious Elvis impersonator. I doubt Morrissey would be so obliging. Hilarious.

Dodgy, I know you've never really been away, but welcome back into my life. I hope you'll stay a while.

Fluffy Kitson - review of Daniel Kitson

Daniel Kitson: The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church, at The Corn Exchange, Newbury, on Thursday, May 26

I KNEW Daniel Kitson was meant to be good. After all, he was voted “best British stand-up of all time” by fellow comedians in Dave’s Census of Humour earlier this year. So I kind of expected to be blown away by him - and when I was, it wasn’t a complete surprise. But that didn’t make the experience of being blown away any less exhilarating, life-enhancing or uplifting - with the left field addition of also being incredibly touching.

The show Kitson is currently touring isn’t ‘stand-up’ as such. It’s actually what he describes as a “story show”, delving into the life of the character Gregory Church, from his decision to end his life after redundancy in the early ‘80s until his eventual death more than 20 years later. The tale was told through Kitson’s discovery of 30,000 letters sent and received by the retired and isolated Church, cataloguing the unsolicited salvation found in the replies to his 50-odd suicide notes (“he never expected anyone to write back”) and his slow return to life through the ongoing correspondence which continued through the years.

Starting the tale with “this bit is true” meant that although the audience was fully aware that it was entirely a product of Kitson’s detailed and ordered imagination, it was unclear where the truth becomes fiction and the “story” actually started, resulting in a deeper emotional investment in Church and the recipients of his letters. There was a collective sense of sadness when his long-term sparring partner, the local newspaper editor, passed away, and a frisson of hope for romance, which came to nothing, for, as Kitson says, an account of someone’s life does not have the satisfactory resolutions of a book or a film.

Kitson’s compelling delivery was unfettered by his occasional stutter (“if it bothers you in any way... you are a bigot”), while his easy distraction made for unplanned moments, both amusing and awkward. To see him giggling at the illusionary bend in his glass of water was a delight, but microphone problems and the crinkle of a sweet packet in the audience showed that for Kitson, the intensity of performance can be a challenge. However, each situation was overcome with politeness and charm, and we were quickly delved back into the absorbing tale. This was a show that revealed much about the lives of two most interesting characters - Gregory Church, and his fascinating, complex and delightful creator, Daniel Kitson. 

* First published in the Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, June 2, 2011

Just what I always Wanted - review of The Wanted

The Wanted at Newbury Racecourse, on Saturday, May 21

NEWBURY Racecourse may be gearing up for music legends Rod Stewart this Sunday and Tom Jones on August 13, but last weekend the stage belonged to a group of new kids on the block whose combined age barely beats that of elder statesman Mr Jones.

Since hitting the top of the charts with their first single, All Time Low, in the week of its release last August, The Wanted have struck a chord with girls from pre-teens upwards all over the UK, from east to west. Life may never be the same for the five-piece who hail from various parts of the UK and Ireland (rather than springing up fully-formed from some backstreet, boys were auditioned for a coveted place in the band),  but The Wanted have a strong work ethic, and less than a year since their debut, have busted a gut to get their second album recorded and ready for release. 

Despite only having one album under their belt, The Wanted performed for more than an hour, debuting forthcoming single Lightening (lyrics: “in fact it’s all a little bit frightening; we might as well be playing with lightening”, and covering songs by Jason Mraz and the Goo Goo Dolls. They then took things up to another level with a demonstration that these musical youths aren’t just pretty faces but can also play instruments, with a laid back cover of Neon Trees’ Animal, before they let loose with a lively covers medley of hits by Taio Cruz. Whether his song Dirty Picture was entirely suitable for the age of The Wanted’s target audience was debatable - a bit blue, maybe?

Their dance routines may be a little more unconstructed than many boy bands, but their singing was A1 and impressively in sync with each other; much better than I, for one, was expecting, and putting many a former Popstars/Pop Idol/ X Factor act (of whom I fear I have seen more live than I care to admit) to shame. To us oldies, they might just seem like a new edition of so many outfits that we have seen come and go since the 80s (and before), but as they grow from boys to men, The Wanted may prove to have the staying power that elludes so many boy bands. As a rousing lyric-perfect crowd singalong of their single Heart Vacancy demonstrated, right now, these boys own their rightful place at the top of the pops, and demonstrate that it is possible to storm the charts without being a Simon Cowell production. Take that, JLS!

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, May 26, 2011

There are 14 boy bands 'hidden' in the above review (not counting The Wanted) - can you spot them all?

Rouse! Rouse! - review of Rob Rouse

Rob Rouse at New Greenham Arts, Newbury on Saturday, May 14

AS eager to please as Ronnie, his over-friendly mongrel featured on film to start the show, comedian Rob Rouse bounded onto the stage full of the joys of spring to tell the tale of The Great Escape - the upping of his family’s sticks from London to the Peak District. The move proved to be a fertile source of material for Rouse, as characterful neighbours and the local wildlife welcomed his family with open arms and a lot more besides.

From a neighbour grateful that Ronnie had slaughtered his chickens because it “saved him a job” to lively pensioners Bill and Margaret, stories of village life blossomed in the telling, mulched up with the joys of family life with a potty-training toddler and long-suffering partner. Former geography teacher Rouse explained that as he embraced the joys of country living he took on the challenge of living off the land, in particular taking his obsession with roadkill to extremities beyond the comfort zone of his vegetarian girlfriend. 

As warm and comforting as nettle soup and packed full of gently exaggerated anecdotes and insights into the skill of “contact technique parking” (“you don’t need parking sensors, that’s what the bumpers are for”), the two hour-plus show flew by with no obvious padding from its original 60 minute Edinburgh Fringe format. I particularly loved the Polish-“speaking” dog, patiently retrained to understand English commands (“teaching its new owners four or five key Polish words didn’t seem to have been considered”) and a wedding reception where Rouse discovered that the villagers knew how to enjoy themselves with an iPhone.

The show built up to an extended denouement involving the rotting corpse of a roadkilled sheep in Rouse’s car boot, during which the suspensions of reality were stretched to snapping point. The believability may not have held throughout, but overall, Rouse’s performance was a breath of fresh country air.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, May 19, 2011

Getting down with Da Vinci - review

Review by Bill Ainsworth 


Da Vinci at Ace Space, Newbury, on Friday, April 15.

A mixed bag of musicians comprising veteran songwriter and keyboardist Jim Johhnson, who has worked with such luminaries as Brian Eno Cozy Powell and Peter Green,; bassist  Francois Pirois, a “crazy Frenchman”; youthful guitarist Ollie Trethewey, a music student; drummer Steve Cruikshank, who I saw many years ago in legendary local dub radicals Military Surplus & RDF; and saxophonist and clarinettist Alan Whetton, who has been in Dexys Midnight Runners amongst others; plus vocalist, where required, Lydia Johnson (Jim’s daughter) make up Hungerford based outfit Da Vinci.

After what had been an emotional day for those members who had attended the funeral of fellow Military Surplus/RDF member Steve Swann (R.I.P.) the band entertained a crowd as varied in age as the band at Newbury’s wonderfully intimate, yet amply sized Ace Space.

The band’s style would be equally suited to a swish cocktail bar or an ocean liner’s lounge, they opened with a pair of diverse cover versions, Cole Porter’s Summertime and Portishead’s Glory Box, which suited 20-someting Lydia’s lush, rich vocal talents beautifully. This was followed by a series of Jim’s mellow songs and instrumentals, with Alan’s instruments very much in the leading role. These included Visions, which reminded me of a late70’s/early 80’s U.S. TV theme, but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly which one; a jazzy Miles & Miles (Geddit?); It’s Only Love; Funk Off; a gorgeous song called Stay With Me;  and Love For Lydia, during which the lady for whom the tune was written stayed in the wings, smiling and dare I say blushing, which was understandable.

After the interval Steve said a few words in tribute to Mr Swann before they launched into Bob Marley’s I Shot The Sheriff, which was the cue for the first few people to leave their drinks on their subtly candlelit tables and hit the dancefloor. Van The Man’s Moondance followed and then, my favourite band composition of the night, Passion. The second set was more up tempo than the first and styles ranging from Dave Brubeck to The Police came to mind. The band said their farewells with a second airing of Passion, even groovier than the first, at which point I was reminded of the suave and sadly short lived heyday of Swing Out Sister.

A very chilled and enjoyable evening was had by all.

• By guest blogger Bill Ainsworth, first published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, April 21, 2011

Bridging the gap - review of Paul Chowdhry

Blogger: The Smudge - Edit Post "Bridging the gap"

Paul Chowdhry at New Greenham Arts, Newbury on Wednesday, April 27

BRITISH-Indian comedian Paul Chowdhry got a surprise when he walked on stage at New Greenham Arts, commenting “this is the whitest audience I’ve ever had” - although the dedication of his Asian fans was demonstrated by some having travelled from as far as Southampton for the initial date of his first national tour.

Already well-known among the Asian community, Chowdhry has a number of catchphrases that his fans clearly loved, but meant that it took a while for those unfamiliar with his work to get fully up to speed with his hard-hitting style.

However, once proceedings were fully warmed up, Chowdhry proved to be a most interesting and entertaining comedian, with a show that touched on issues of racism, ignorance, generation gaps and miscommunication, demonstrating that it is possible for people from every culture to laugh at themselves and each other if there is mutual respect and appreciation.

Apart from some misjudged off-the-cuff jokes aimed at a couple in the audience about the man giving his partner a “slap” - taken good-naturedly by the targets, but touching on a theme which I don’t think should ever play a part in a comedy show - Chowdhry balanced his rehearsed material well with audience interaction. He also demonstrated a talent for mimicry and threw out some cracking one-liners - “The Royal Wedding will have 1,900 guests attending. That’s just one side of the family at an Indian wedding”.

An unintentionally funny moment arose when Chowdhry accidentally referred to the “Newbury Gazette”, resulting in several heckles of “Nooo, it’s the Newbury Weekly News” from different parts of the room. “Now I know what really upsets you,” commented Chowdhry. That’s right - it’s not jokes about the BNP membership helpline being run from India that rises the hackles of a Newbury audience - it’s not getting the name of the local newspaper correct. I think he felt suitably chastened.

Chowdhry’s Not PC national tour may herald the start of him hitting the mainstream, but I get the feeling that he won’t be prepared to compromise his act for the comfort of a wider audience.  Don’t expect to see him chatting on Alan Titmarsh’s sofa any time soon, but certainly try to catch him live if you get the chance.

* Paul Chowdhry will be at the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon on June 8 and The Forge at The Anvil in Basingstoke on June 23.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, May 5 2011