Poptastic fun - Frisky & Mannish review

Frisky & Mannish at The Corn Exchange, Newbury on October 3, 2012

I HOPE Frisky & Mannish realise that they impressed me so much on their first visit to Newbury, at New Greenham Arts last October, that not only have I broken my own golden rule about not seeing the same act twice within two years, but I have actually planned this write-up within 12 months of the last one specifically to spread the word about their twinklesome fabulousness. I even missed Red Dwarf legend Norman Lovett at Arlington Arts on the same night for this pair Now, that’s devotion.

This all for a musical comedy twosome who I first dismissed as a “bit pants” on seeing them as part of BBC Three’s Edinburgh Fringe coverage. But lo - on seeing them live, the scales fell from my eyes, and I realised that well known pop songs reworked by a delightfully flamboyant pair of Oxford University graduates (Laura Corcoran and Matthew Floyd Jones) is not only the future of comedy, but the future of pop music.

Their current tour, Extra Curricular Activities, sees an upgrade of venue size - in Newbury’s case, from NGA to The Corn Exchange - and a setlist which mixes the best bits of their previous shows with some new material which proves they still have their fingers firmly on the pop pulse. While their previous tour, Popcentre Plus, had something of a cod-educational bent to it, Extra Curricular Activities goes all out for greatest hits-style fun; cramming in as many pastiches as possible, from Cheryl (Cole, as was, until she recently decided she was famous enough to drop the surname entirely) to Karen Carpenter, and Dizzy Rascal to the Bee Gees.

F&M’s talent (apart from the chameleon-like vocal talents of Corcoran, Floyd Jones’ snake-like hips, and an overall fantabulous sense of style, of course) is spotting the similarities between performers or songs from entirely different genres, making them unlikely musical bedfellows, and then taking the idea and running with it until the audience twig that they were in fact right all along, and in fact the link between the disparate performers should be blindingly obvious. And so, the Phantom Of The Opera-like “mentor” of sultry poppet Lana del Rey was revealed to be the barrel-voiced singer of Canadian one hit wonders Crash Test Dummies; and “X Factor reject” Diana Vickers to be the unexpected vocal lovechild of 90s Community Service dodger Mark Morrison.

The F&M concept of “pop” was widened for this show with an educational glimpse into the world of Made In Chelsea for audience members who hadn’t seen it (all but one, it turned out; and the F&M precis was more than enough), and an insightful interview with Cheryl (the one who was Cole). Lots of life-affirming fun, enforced audience dancing and game-for-anything volunteers. Everyone should have a little bit of F&M in their lives; and on Saturday night, The Corn Exchange certainly did.

• First published in the Newbury Weekly News on October 18, 2012

Show me more - Chris & Pui Roadshow review

The Chris and Pui Roadshow, at The Anvil, Basingstoke, on Saturday, September 22, 2012

CHRIS Jarvis and Pui Fan Lee have been stalwarts of the BBC channel for under sixes, CBeebies since its launch in 2002, and worked on pre-school programmes before that (Lee was Po, the red Teletubby); so they are a dead cert when it comes to knowing exactly what makes little people tick.

As a result, their live show - featuring toys and characters from their current CBeebies programme Show Me Show Me - grabs and holds the attention of pre-schoolers for far longer than most theatrical productions. Unusually for a show aimed at very young children, it even had an interval - and yes, the audience did come back for more.

Fast paced, but not terrifyingly loud or colourful, the show crammed in seemingly hundreds of nursery rhymes, songs, counting, charactes and costumes, presented with such tender care by the extremely likeable Jarvis and Lee (or “Show Me and Show Me”, as my two year old calls them) that the concept of two television favourites appearing live on stage in front of them didn’t seem to phase the young audience.

I have a bit of a personal aversion to nursery rhymes, but there’s something so appealing about this twosome that I found myself joining in with the actions to “The Wheels On The Bus” and “Wind The Bobbin Up” with more enthusiasm than I expected; and with plenty of panto-style cheesy jokes thrown in for the grown ups and older siblings who may have come along, I found myself as involved as  the little ones.

I’ve seen plenty children’s shows over the years with my son, and with my daughter having the attention span of a gnat, I wasn’t particularly desperate to start it all again too early. However, if the sparkling quality of Jarvis and Lee’s live show rubs off on other productions for pre-schoolers, I’ll be more than happy to brave the theatre with her on a regular basis. She spotted a poster for a live Ben & Holly production on the way out, so I suspect I’ll be back in an auditorium with her before the year is out.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on October 4, 2012

A funny valentine - review of Sandi Toksvig

Sandi Toksvig at The Anvil, Basingstoke on Saturday, September 15

COMEDIANS often rave about the warm and friendly atmosphere at The Anvil, but Sandi Toksvig’s visit  generated such a tangible glow of love radiating towards her from the audience, that she probably could have spent the whole show explaining the rules of Mornington Crescent (the unfathomable parlour game played on I’m Sorry, I Haven’t A Clue) and still have been adored by every person present.

In fact, Toksvig gave us much more than that. Entitled “My Valentine”, the loose theme was a love letter from Toksvig to life; what inspires her to still find “delight in the day”. Much of her daily pleasures arise unexpectedly via her wholehearted love of books - not just literature of quality, but the fun to be had from dubious book titles, and a gem about the rules of golf during wartime, found while thumbing through an old golfing almanac (“A player whose stroke is affected by the simultaneous explosion of a bomb may play another ball from the same place. Penalty, one stroke.”)

It is no wonder that Toksvig has little trouble finding ideas for her novels, the most recent of which is Valentine Grey, and she explained the various inspirations for the plot, including the several women who are known to have disguised themselves as male soldiers (and many who were probably never discovered), and the horrors of the generally forgotten Boer War at the turn of the 20th century.

Toksvig’s anecdotes included touching tales about Toksvig’s late “showbiz husband” Alan Coren “We used to lie on his hotel bed eating burgers... it was like being an old married couple without the sex - hang on, that is being an old married couple”, her long-term friendship with John McCarthy, dating back to before he was taken hostage in the Lebanon, and her parents, who met at the BBC - “I have the BBC running through my veins”.

It was interesting to hear in Toksvig’s voice, not just the hint of Denmark of her birth which I always suspected bubbled just under the surface of her clipped English accent, but also the broad New York drawl which she brought to the UK as a teenager after years living in the USA. Such a globetrotting past hasn’t stopped Toksvig from becoming a truly British institution, but her description of Danish as a “peasant language with one word to describe one thing - although we have lots of words for ‘herring’” may go some way to explain her love of the intricacies and delights of the English language.

However, it was fun to learn some Danish essentials - if I am ever in Denmark to find that I have been made king, and need to convey my love of strawberries, I am sorted. There was also audience participation with a Q&A session, a silly little history quiz (I say “silly” only because I got knocked out on the first round) with the prize being not the expected signed copy of Valentine Grey, but a Moleskine notebook, beloved of many writers, to allow the winner to begin her “own writing journey”. 

The evening’s fun rounded off with a mass audience conducting of Beethoven’s Ode To Joy, commissioned by The Philharmonic Society of London in 1817 for £50 - “surely the best 50 quid ever spent”. I suspect everyone in the audience felt the same about the £18.50 they spent on their tickets.

• First published in the Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, September 22, 2012

Show and tell - interview with Chris Jarvis

LOVED by pre-schoolers and their mums alike, CHRIS JARVIS has been a stalwart of CBeebies since its launch, alongside current Show Me Show Me co-presenter Pui Fan Lee. CATRIONA REEVES spoke to him about the pair’s live tour, The Chris and Pui Roadshow

CATRIONA REEVES: Show Me Show Me reminds me of the classic Children’s BBC show Playschool - is that intentional?

CHRIS JARVIS: Completely - Show Me Show Me is the direct descendent of Playschool, which led on to Playdays, and then Tikkabilla. It’s the longest show on the channel, and fulfils the remit of presenting a variety of items, giving more time to explore them. When I was a kid, there was only 20 minutes of pre-school programming a day - now they have a whole channel, with the variety that offers. But I still think that there’s a place in there for a show like Show Me Show Me.

Show Me Show Me is about showing, exploring and encouraging children to think about the world; because of course, everything is new to them. It’s a real challenge; it may look simple and daft, but the educationalists involved in the science behind it are amazing. My parents were teachers, and I find that side of things fascinating. CBeebies is truly a centre of excellence in the BBC; it’s chock-full of talent and knowledge.

CR: You and Pui have worked together since CBeebies was launched in 2002, first as the main channel presenters, and now on Show Me Show Me. Why do you think you work so well together?

CJ: Pui comes from a drama school and acting background - she was Po in Teletubbies - while I came from performing at Butlins - a great training ground - , via the Broom Cupboard [Children’s BBC’s tiny presenting studio in the 80s and 90s]. I enjoyed that, but felt that pre-school television was more in my comfort zone than interviewing popstars. I was really lucky to meet Pui, because she’s brilliant, and brings an entirely different set of skills, so it works really well together as a professional partnership.

CR: You’ve written quite a lot of songs for various CBeebies shows over the years. Is that something you particularly enjoy?

CJ: I’ve always liked songwriting, but in the early days of CBeebies it was done out of necessity because the budget was so small. I’m writing this year’s CBeebies panto at the moment, and the BBC Philharmonic are involved, which is really exciting.

I’m not the greatest musician, but I think it’s so important to have music and people playing instruments  and showing how they work, to light that spark in children. What we do on Show Me Show Me in general isn’t necessarily educational or informative, but it creates those poetic attachments to things. I wanted to play the piano in the first place because I saw Jonathan Cohen regularly on Playschool and Playaway when I was young.

CR: Parents might be a bit nervous about taking very small children to the theatre to see your show; is it challenging to create a live experience for that age group?

CJ: We assume that children coming to see us are coming to the theatre for the first time, and it can be quite weird, so we try and create a friendly environment. We keep the house lights up for the first part of the show, and it’s got a slow, gentle start to make them feel comfortable - it can be incredibly quiet in there. After about 20 minutes or so, when the children have seen us and the characters, the penny drops, and by the end the are all joining in.

This is our third proper year of touring a big stage show together, but we’ve had years of panto and live experience before that to learn about what keeps very young audiences interested. They don’t need big sets - they need new stuff to engage them every few moments.

After the first part, the show is very fast moving - we have 100 props, and all the toys from Show Me Show Me - but it’s not really noisy; it’s not a rock concert for toddlers. There are some quite sweet moments. There are things we can do on stage that we can’t do on TV, and vice versa, so it’s very interactive.

Children are very welcome to bring along a teddy or cuddly toy so they can join in as well - as long as they look after them; we don’t want any lost toys left behind!

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, September 22, 2012

For whom the bell tolls - review of The Bell by Periplum

The Bell, presented by Periplum, in Newbury Market Place on Friday, August 10

AFTER the uplifting oddity of The Berkshire Giant earlier in the summer, The Corn Exchange’s Outdoor Programme took a darker turn on Friday, when performance theatre company Periplum brought together an international cast and local volunteers to present The Bell, the tale of hope arising from war and death.

Crammed into the Market Place, spectators were fully part of the action as a ragtag band of brothers, speaking in English and Spanish, fought an evil force set on devastating their unnamed land. Fires burned as demonic, inhuman invaders swept their way through the crowd, causing fear and mayhem as they passed.

Hooded torchbearers drove paths through the crowd, splitting it asunder, as fireworks shot into the sky and bloodied bodies hung from scaffolds, while a soloist pronounced her pure song of peace from the Town Hall balcony.

Eventually, a sign of strength arose from the ashes, as flags were thrust into the hands of strong-armed spectators and a massive rocking structure was brought across the Market Place. On it, a fiery bell was forged and raised, representing the resilience and hope of the defeated people.

While The Berkshire Giant was devised specifically to be performed locally, Periplum have been presenting The Bell in international settings for a number of years. However, such thoughtful use of the Market Place setting, excellent lighting and staging and the intensity of being among the action created a unique experience from which everyone present would take their own emotions and sensations.

As thoughts turn to Autumn, the final two events in The Corn Exchange’s Outdoor Programme for 2012 are the anarchic Halloween Hullabaloo on October 28, and the Festival of Light Lantern Procession on December 16.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on August 16, 2012

Hearts and Bones - interview with Sandi Toksvig

WITH her fifth book out on September 6, radio comedy doyenne SANDI TOKSVIG is launching it with a touring show direct from Edinburgh Fringe mixing in stand-up, storytelling and hopefully some hot gossip centred around her career and her love of writing. CATRIONA REEVES spoke to her about her historical novel Valentine Grey, and the live show it has inspired.

CATRIONA REEVES: Your new book, Valentine Grey, is about a girl who dressed as a man to enrol as a soldier in the Boer War. Did you enjoy writing it?

SANDI TOKSVIG: Very much so. It’s taken about four years in total, and has involved a massive amount of research - probably too much, but it helps give a three-dimensional feeling to the book. I became totally immersed in its world; I even broke down in tears because I killed a character.

It’s a very odd feeling now that I’ve finished writing it - I’ve been working on it for such a long time, and I’ve had stuff all over my desk to do with it, which I only finally tidied away yesterday

CR: Part of the story focuses on Valentine’s cousin Reggie. She disguises herself as him to join the fighting, leaving him free to stay with his male lover in Victorian London. Was it important to you to have gay characters in the book?

ST: The gay element to the story wasn’t central to it to begin with - that evolved later on. I started with the central story about Valentine, but then I became interested in the character of Reggie as well, and his own battle developed. I find that happens with character; they take over and create their own story.

CR: Your live show is called My Valentine - is it all about the novel?

ST: The show does involve me talking about the book, but there will also be jokes and silliness; I’ll look at why people write and what they write about, and there will be a bit about silly book titles. It’s a mix of sensible and silly.

There will also be a question and answer session - I’ve got some good gossip if people ask the right questions.

CR: Do you consider yourself to be mainly a writer, performer or comedian?

ST: I like all of it - I get to do so many different things; writing the books,the radio shows [Toksvig is chairman of Radio 4’s The News Quiz] and television [she is a regularly panellist on QI]. I’ve got a play opening soon, and a new quiz show for Channel 4... I like the variety. I do also love writing; in a room on my own, enjoying the peace and quiet.

CR: You pop up quite regularly on the BBC comedy panel show QI, but not many women do - why do you think that is?

ST: I really don’t know - I think they must fear us. I’m good friends with some of the other women who appear on QI, including Jo Brand, but they never put us on together. It’s very rare that there are two women on the same panel. It’s odd, because there’s lots of women who appear on the News Quiz.

CR: You’ve had a long and successful television and radio career, but a lot of people in their 30s or so fondly remember you for your time on No. 73, the 1980s ITV Saturday morning show. Did you enjoy being involved in children’s television?

ST: No 73 was the most fun I’ve ever had with my clothes on. I was fresh out of uni, straight into a TV job that lasted six years. I didn’t particularly aim to work in children’s television - I never really had a career plan. I’d been in Footlights at Cambridge, and joined The Comedy Store Players [an improvisational comedy group based at London’s Comedy Store club]. Whose Line Is It Anyway? [Channel 4’s long-running improv show] came out of that, and one thing led to another.

My secret is that I never say no to anything. Well, it has to be of a certain standard; I avoid anything with “celebrity” in the title. I was asked to do the dancing one, but I decided that I’ve coped so far without learning how to tango, so I can probably live without it.

Sandi Toksvig will perform My Valentine at The Anvil, Basingstoke on Saturday, September 15.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on August 23, 2012

A guiding light - feature about Guide Dogs puppy walkers

WE may remember collecting silver foil and milk bottle tops for the Blue Peter appeal for Guide Dogs For The Blind as children, but now we’re grown up, there’s something else even more useful we can do for Guide Dogs (as the charity is now known)  - it’s a 24/7 commitment, but the rewards are well worth the effort.

The Wokingham-based service, which trains and provides dogs to support blind and partially-sighted people, is looking to recruit puppy walkers  to raise and care for guide dog puppies from the age of seven weeks to between 12 and 15 months, when they are ready to begin their training.

It’s a demanding role, but most of those who take it on wouldn’t have it any other way, such as Doreen and Adrian Griffin, from Reading, who are currently looking after 11-month-old labrador Woodie, and golden retriever Esme, who is just 13 weeks old.

Seeing them walking round Newbury town centre with the puppies, the additional effort they put into basic training from the earliest days is apparent, particularly when Doreen and Adrian have only been looking after Esme for five weeks.

“We started off with just one dog at a time, but when Adrian took early retirement, we decided we could manage two , and found that having an ‘overlap’ actually helps, because the puppies learn very quickly from the older dog,” explains Doreen. “It’s not double the effort - it’s actually half the work!” 

The pups attract plenty of attention from dog lovers as we stop for an al fresco coffee. “They need to get used to people, and busy places,”  says Adrian. “Town walks are essential; and we also take them on buses and trains, to the supermarket and even to the airport - they’ve got to get used to the hustle and bustle.

“The man who has our first pup, Marley, rang us the other day - Marley is going to fly to California with him! It really makes us feel that what we do with the pups is worthwhile. That’s why we do this - the satisfaction of giving someone a life. Having a guide dog makes such a difference.”

Doreen and Adrian became puppy walkers about four years ago after their 14-year-old golden retriever Jason died. “Our neighbour said it was so strange not seeing us walking the dog, and she suggested puppy walking, as her mum did it,” explains Doreen. “It seemed like a good idea, as it isn’t a long-term commitment; we could take a break between pups - although we haven’t yet.”

The couple say that they found the volunteer vetting and training process very straightforward, with plenty of ongoing support from their Guide Dogs supervisor, and all food and vet bills paid for.  The biggest commitment is the familiarisation excursions, which need to be more varied than a normal dog walk, and getting used to Guide Dogs’ approved glossary of commands, such as “spend” and “busies”  for toileting.

Woodie and Esme are the couple’s fourth and fifth guide dog pups - of their previous charges, two have gone on to become successful guide dogs, with  the other one not meeting the rigourous standards required, purely because of his fast walking pace. “He’s fine though,”  says Doreen, “he now lives with the racehorse trainer Andrew Balding in Kingsclere, so he landed on his feet.”

As their first guide dog puppy, Marley was the hardest one to say goodbye too when it was time to start his full training, but a few weeks later, the Griffins were handed a new pup, “and there was no looking back after that,” says Doreen. “We can’t imagine not doing it now.”

As a Berkshire-based charity, Guide Dogs is keen to enrol more puppy walkers in the west of the county. Clare Burgess, the volunteer development manager for Guide Dogs’ Reading mobility team, is a puppy walker herself, and says: "Without puppy walkers there would be no Guide Dogs, it really is that important. 

“Our puppy walkers are all wonderful; with support from their local supervisor they raise well socialised, friendly dogs ready for the exciting adventures ahead of them. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to spend my time with these amazing dogs- they are just so intelligent and seem to pick everything up so quickly.

“When I started puppy walking the training and support I received was second to none, I really would recommend it to anyone, it has been the best experience of my life, 

"We are committed to increasing the number of Guide Dog partnerships, this means breeding more puppies and in turn means we need many more puppy walkers. ”

If you feel you could offer a home to a Guide Dogs puppies, contact Guide Dogs’ volunteer team on 0845 371 7771 or email volunteer@guidedogs.org.uk

• First published in Out & About magazine, Jul y 2012

Hardin nuff - review of Case Hardin

Photo by Richard Markham

Case Hardin at ACE Space, Newbury on Friday, July 20

AND so, as ACE Space goes dark for the month of August, the community arts venue saved one of its best for last, with a gig by Case Hardin, sort-of local (it’s complicated) leading lights on the UK’s alt-country/Americana scene.

With two albums-worth of material to chose from (2008’s Some Tunes For Charlie Spencer and 2011’s Every Dirty Mirror), plus a few new songs, the band, led by Pete Gow (intrepid TV news producer by day, beardy waistcoated musoman by night) now have a sturdy library of songs to select from - mind you, Gow has been fronting the band in varied formats since 1999, so he’s had time to build up a bit of a back catalogue.

Gow is quite a storyteller, and his songs paint pictures of bare knuckle fighters (Champeen) and shell-shocked squaddies (The Ring), complemented by Adam Kotz’s lamenting mandolin and banjo and  Jim Maving’s weeping guitar. That’s not to say that there aren’t any upbeat moments - forthcoming single Where Angels Fear To Tread, to be released on Clubhouse Records and described by Gow as “a three-and-a-half minute precis of why I am, and will always be, single”, ends with a bit of a wig-out; while, encore Three For The Road finally transformed some of the tapping toes in the audience into dancing feet.

A handful of the songs were solo or near-solo numbers, with Gow being accompanied only by Maving’s heartbreaking guitar playing, but Gow certainly appreciates the coven of musicians he has gathered around him. Stating that he’d “long been of the opinion that I’m the third best singer in the band”, he launched the five-piece into 1,000 Sides Of Vinyl, showcasing his voice alongside those of Maving and Kotz, who otherwise focused mainly on providing the harmonies that added to Case Hardin’s rich sound. 

Gow’s awareness of two elements of his songwriting, that which requires the full band sound, and the more introspective singer-songwriter component, is reflected on the album Every Dirty Mirror, which was conceived and sequenced as if produced for vinyl, with a full tilt band “side” and the second part being more contemplative. Case Hardin is very much Gow’s band, but although he suggested that he “became a bit of a Frankenstein’s Monster in the studio” (he possibly meant Dr Frankenstein himself), he is clearly very comfortable with the current line-up, and the high calibre musical input and inspiration they bring to the performance of his songs, both recorded and live.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, July 26. 2012

Five stars for Sayle - review of Alexei Sayle

Newbury Comedy Festival: Alexei Sayle - Stalin Ate My Homework, at The Corn Exchange, Newbury, on Saturday, July 14

ALEXEI Sayle - self-styled “fat b*****d*, inventor (pretty much) of alternative comedy, pithy celebrity insulter extraordinaire, and now more or less a full-time author with five published novels, and motoring correspondent (I didn’t see that one coming, despite his 1984 hit ‘Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?).

It was this writer guise that brought Sayle to be standing at a lectern in The Corn Exchange, reading mainly from the memoir of his odd upbringing by his Communist Jewish parents  in Liverpool. Mr and Mrs Sayle’s beliefs led to some peculiar child-raising decisions - to make up for the fact that they refused to let young Alexei watch Bambi with his classmates (in addition to their dislike of Communist witch hunt supporter Walt Disney, they argued that it may be too upsetting) they took him to a screening of Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky, “with its scenes of ritualistic child sacrifice”. It was then that Sayle realised that he wasn’t quite the same as other children.

Despite the fact that Sayle hadn’t performed stand-up for 16 years until a slight return in recent months, you can’t put a natural comedian down, and his innate wit came into its own as he fielded questions from the audience with a comfortable candidity about his life, career and the many celebrities he has insulted over the years. Sayle admitted that as he had grown older, he had become more aware of the feelings of others, but still appears genuinely baffled that certain people have long-held grudges arising from his comments about them, most of which were made, at least in part, for comic effect.

While Sayle says that he is keen not to return to old ground career-wise, his tales of the earliest days of alternative comedy (“it could be brilliant, it could be terrible, but it was always exciting - Keith Allen once threw darts at the audience”) and thoughts on the modern stand-up scene (“they’ll talk about all this intimate stuff, but as soon as politics is mentioned, there’s tension in the room - it’s like politics is the new taboo”)  suggests that a  full stand-up tour would be extremely interesting indeed.

But that’s not to say that a book reading is second-best to a stand-up show, because it reflects who Sayle is now, and being as his career has developed so organically via “creating an entirely new art form as the only way of making myself employable”, I get the feeling that the next step, whatever it is, is something that can’t be forced. 

* Chatting with Sayle after the show (well, I had to buy the book), he mentioned that he had never had a five star review. I explained that the Newbury Weekly News’ arts pages don’t have a starring system - but Alexei, just for you: I give it five stars.

• First published in the Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, July 19, 2012

A teensy bit tame - review of Seann Walsh and Josh Widdicombe

Newbury Comedy Festival: Seann Walsh - Seann To Be Wild, and Josh Widdicombe - Further Adventures Of... at New Greenham Arts on Thursday, July 10

I’VE had Seann Walsh on my to-do list for quite a while, but I can’t quite remember why - I probably saw him on a television panel show and was charmed by his easy wit and lovely hair.

But there was something ever so slightly “meh” about the preview of his Edinburgh Fringe show, Seann To Be Wild, at New Greenham Arts last Thursday. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it for a couple of days - it was a reasonably slick performance (taking into account that it was a show in-preparation), there was definitely some funny stuff in there and the material fitted well with the theme (Walsh’s love of alcohol and exploits while drinking).

And then, while watching Alexei Sayle’s book reading at The Corn Exchange on Saturday, a comment made by Sayle about today’s stand-up scene made perfect sense. Preparing for a return to stand-up after a 16 year hiatus, the godfather of alternative comedy immersed himself in the current comedy scene, and concluded that while stand-up comics of today are prepared to reveal all sorts of intimate information about themselves, today’s taboo subject seems to be politics. Sayle’s opinion is that the 21st century UK comedy scene’s world view is a generally nihilistic one, with few comics delving deeper than a Mock The Week level of lampooning of the state of affairs.

And so it was with Walsh - and, to a certain extent, Josh Widdicombe as well, whose material, about the little annoyances and confusions of life (the backstories to boardgames for example) was wider ranging, and so hit more targets than Walsh’s drinking tales, but it just wasn’t that memorable. I am aware that one issue with preparing an Edinburgh show is that the performers have to submit their show title, and even the blurb about it, months before the event, and thus before they have even written it, meaning that their material has to then be tailored to the title, which is probably not going to be an approach that works well for everyone.

I don’t mean to come across as damning here; both Walsh and Widdicombe are very able comics, with the sort of able humour which works excellently on television shows and a confidence in their ability which could see them go far. Theirs is the sort of safe-but-funny comedy which goes down well on a wide scale, and I wouldn’t be surprised if either or both of them make it as big as the likes of Russell Howard and Michael MacIntyre. Nothing to set the world on fire; but two secure pairs of hands.

• First published in the Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, July 19, 2012

Darby winner - review of Rhys Darby

Rhys Darby: This Way To The Spaceship, at The Anvil, Basingstoke on Tuesday, July 10

I WAS a little bit naughty last Tuesday - slap bang in the middle of the Newbury Comedy Festival, on the night I had the pick of John Shuttleworth at New Greenham Arts, Daniel Simonsen and Dr Brown at Arlington Arts and the You Must Be Joking final at The Corn Exchange,I skipped town altogether and snuck off to Basingstoke to see Rhys Darby (aka Rhysiebabes, as I will always call him). I know, it was treacherous of me, but the opportunity to see a Hollywood actor and the man behind a cult comedy character (as Flight of the Conchords’ Murray Hewitt) in action was irresistible. And I’m a sucker for the Kiwi accent.

I had no regrets about my decision; Rhys Darby’s show - based on his book of the same name - was delightful. A constructed piece of theatrical performance rather than pure stand-up, the show looked back at a number of crucial incidents in Murray’s early life which may - or, may not - have led to him being one of the chosen ones to be evacuated into space as a human worth saving when the world ends. This construct wasn’t terribly well explained at the beginning of the show, but no particular matter - it wasn’t Brecht, so I suspect most audience members who hadn’t read any pre-show blurb picked up the general gist pretty quickly.

The show was introduced by Darby in character as Bill Napier, a Kiwi wildlife ranger (and Darby’s alleged security guard), bearing an uncanny resemblance in appearance and tone to Home & Away’s Alf Stewart, whose powerful “tree of life” salute is bound to be a hit among the kids in the know by the end of the year. Napier was a lovely character, and I would have been quite happy for him to stay on (although I presume that providing your own warm-up must have some downsides for a performer), as “proper” support act, fellow Kiwi Jamie Bowen, was a surprisingly fast talker for a Kiwi (who I always thought to be laid-back in dictation), meaning that some of his jokes and ukulele -backed lyrics were rather swallowed up in The Anvil’s auditorium.

Back as “himself”, Darby launched into the space-set look back on key moments in his life as a socially awkward child and teenager - basically a showcase for his physical comedy, sound effects, mime and and dance skills. I really must read his book to see how he manages to tell the same story in print. The moral of the story was the rather sweet (if not entirely printable) motto: “Keep being yourself, and eventually you’ll find someone who digs your s**t”. Bless. What a potty-mouthed darling Rhysiebabes is.

• First published in the Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, July 19, 2012

Peeking into the box of tricks - review of Barry & Stuart : Show & Tell

Newbury Comedy Festival: Barry & Stuart - Show & Tell, at The Corn Exchange on Friday, July 6, 2012

SHORTLY after returning home from Barry & Stuart kicking off the Newbury Comedy Festival with their magic show at The Corn Exchange on Friday, I received a message from local magician Robert Bone, saying “Now you know how to do it all, I guess I’ll have some competition...”

In fact, the Scottish duo’s inspired schtick of revealing the secrets behind their trickery in the second half of the show gave me an increased respect for magicians’ mastery. Far from it all being about sleight of hand and quick wins, the amount of thought, time, inspiration and sheer effort which goes into the creation and perfection of each trick puts it even further out of the reach of us Muggles, and brings in an extra element of wonder and amazement.

Marginally less gory than some of Barry Jones & Stuart MacLeod’s previous shows (there was still a fair amount of fake blood being thrown around, though), the emphasis was firmly on demonstrating - and then revealing the secrets behind - some of the pair’s most ingenious tricks, one of which had taken them six years to prepare for performance. So it was less about the smoke and mirrors, and more about secreted technology, clever use of chemistry, magnificent memory techniques, and an au faitness with the workings of social media.

The explanations didn’t reduce the tricks themselves to a let-down, as there were none that I for one could have second-guessed (I’m sure that Robert Bone could have a good go, but I’m looking forward to testing him on that). OK, there was one exception - a feat of memory by Jones had a perfectly reasonable explanation (he used the devastating power of... his brain), but was no less impressive for it.

The “reveals” also showed how well Jones and MacLeod work as a double act; while Jones’ particular strength is his memory feat, MacLeod’s is his nimble finger work, making short shrift of any sleight of hand required. It makes for an excellent, fun and very entertaining pairing, and despite their statement at the beginning of the show that “tonight, we are going to be ending our careers”, I doubt  that will be happening for many years to come.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, July 12, 2012

Hard at it - interview with Adam Kotz from Case Hardin

AN acclaimed British alt country band with extensive local roots, Case Hardin are playing ACE Space in Newbury on Friday, July 20. CATRIONA REEVES spoke to band member, Newbury resident, actor, musician and ACE Space chairman ADAM KOTZ about the band and his many other hats.

CATRIONA REEVES: Case Hardin are definitely making waves on the alt country scene, with your latest album Every Dirty Mirror receiving excellent reviews and national BBC radio airplay. How would you describe the band’s sound?

ADAM KOTZ: The band was formed by Pete Gow - who until recently lived in Thatcham - who writes songs that echo the best of the American alt country scene, and artists like Springsteen and Steve Earle, but mixes it all up with a highly original British take.

We’ve played in the current line-up [Pete, Adam, Tim Emery, Andy Bastow and Jim Maving] for more than three years now, and we seem to able to take on different styles from stomping rock to ballads and story songs - as we hope the album shows.

CR: Pete’s job as a TV journalist has taken him to war zones in Iraq and Libya in recent years. Do his songs relate to these experiences?

AK: Some do directly, others more obliquely; but he also writes beautifully about lost love and hard drinking.

CR: What is your role in the band?

AK: Well, I weave my mandolin and banjo through the tunes, as well as singing backing and some lead vocals.

CR: Have you always combined being an actor with making music?

AK: Not always. I’ve played on and off in bands in between acting jobs but it’s particularly great when the two combine. For example, I started playing mandolin while playing the music teacher in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the National Theatre in the ’90s. I’ve sung and rocked my way through a fair few theatre and TV shows as well, and written music as well – I even wrote a TV theme song back in the ’80s! My first job was the TV play Oi For England, about a skinhead band.

CR: You’ve done a lot of screen work, haven’t you?

AK: I’ve done a lot of theatre too, particularly at the National and with Cheek By Jowl, and I’d love to do more, I miss it, but it’s harder to fit in with family life.

The most well known films are probably The Last King of Scotland [he played Gillian Anderson’s husband - or, as Adam puts it, “I think you’ll find she played my wife”] and Peter Greenaway’s Nightwatching, and, yes, I’ve done quite a bit of TV too.

As it happens, I’ve just finished being in Henry IV Pt 2 in the new BBC Shakespeare Hollow Crown season  - that was great, swords, horses and lots of shouting. I play Lord Hastings, a rebel who gets his comeuppance.

That was followed by a lovely one-off play for CBBC and a spy drama for Channel 4, so the variety continues.

CR: I’ve noticed that if you turn up in a murder mystery, it inevitably means that you will turn out to be the murderer or a victim - or, on one occasion, both...

AK: Sometimes I am a bright red herring, and I have had my moments as a law enforcer. In Touching Evil I kicked in doors and arrested people - at least until I went off the rails and killed a few people. OK, you may have a point!

CR: So where does ACE Space fit in to all this?

AK: I knew the old RAFA Hall in St Nicholas Road from hiring it myself, and found out it was going to close down. Luckily, the idea to save it drew in a terrific bunch of local volunteers, and we’ve improved it and kept it running as part-village hall, part-arts workshop ever since. We have had great backing from Greenham Common Trust, and donations along the way from Sovereign, MicroFocus, Newbury Town and West Berkshire councils among others.

Especially, we have had amazing support from the many local people who hire the place, come to our events and tell us they like what we are doing. Have a look at www.acespacenewbury.com – we are always happy to welcome new people.

CR: Who else is involved in the gig?

AK: We’ve got support from Des Simmons and the Hired Hands. Des is a great local musician with a great band. Sticks and Strings’ Rick Green is opening the show, and is also well known in these parts. All of us play original music with real heart.

For ACE Space, it is the last event before our summer lay-off after a busy year so we hope people will come to help us celebrate that and enjoy a great night of live music.

Ticket for Case Hardin at ACE Space on Friday, July 20, are £5 in advance (£6 on the door) from Hogan Music in Craven Road and Jacqui’s in Blenheim Road, or call 07905 590 214 to reserve. Doors open at 7.30pm.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, July 12, 2012

Fingers of fun - interview with Stuart MacLeod (magicians Barry & Stuart)

SPRIGHTLY Scottish magicians Barry & Stuart, the hosts of the BBC show The Magicians, are returning to Newbury for a date at The Corn Exchange during Newbury Comedy Festival, with a show that would probably get them kicked out of the Magic Circle... if they were members.

STUART MACLEOD explained to CATRIONA REEVES why they are breaking down the fourth wall and letting the audience peek behind their brand of dark and gory magic.

CATRIONA REEVES: You’re bringing your Show & Tell to Newbury Comedy Festival - what’s the idea behind it?

STUART MACLEOD: In the first half of the show, we perform a variety of our favourite tricks and some new ones that we’ve been working on over the past year. Then, after the interval, we reveal exactly how we’ve done each trick. The audience have a choice to stay, or leave if they don’t want to know the secrets behind it.

CR: Have many audience members chosen not to stay for the second half?

SM: We don’t think there’s been many, but we have had comments from various house managers that a few people have left, saying that they’ve enjoyed what they’ve seen, but they don’t want to have the mystery spoilt. There’s often a childlike wonder and astonishment about magic, and not everyone wants to lose that.

It was a brave, and probably stupid decision to go ahead with the show, and it was a tough one to write, but how magic works is fascinating, and we wanted to let people in on the secret.

CR: How is the show going down with other magicians?

SM: A lot are really annoyed - many think that the secrets shouldn’t be revealed, so we’ve had a lot of emails. The Magic Circle has a rule that the secrets of magic shouldn’t be revealed, but we’re not members, so they can’t kick us out.

CR: Does doing the show this way present more challenges than usual?

SM: Actually, it means that if something goes wrong with a trick and we have to improvise, it means that in the second half we can explain what happened and how we dealt with it.

The hardest thing was deciding what tricks to include. There are some really great tricks in there, such as turning water into wine. It took us six years to come up with that, and we performed it on television in front of 6m people, so we were a bit reluctant to give that secret away.

On the other hand, the first half ends with an excellent new trick which we’re really pleased with, and again we had a dilemma about revealing that one.

Basically, we came up with a set of rules that we wanted to genuinely show exactly what was going on, and then there was a lot of cajoling of each other to put a really good range of stuff in there.

CR: It sounds like you should be writing a book on the back of this...

SM: There’s a lot of stuff in the show involving mobile phones and suchlike, so we’ve decided that it would work better on the internet than in the book, so we’re currently working on a website, which is where this should all end up.

We’re also working on a couple of TV  pilots at the moment - we’re not going to Edinburgh this year, because we’re devoting time to them.

CR: You and Barry (Jones) are rather like the Ant & Dec of the magic world - do you think you’ll ever work separately, or are you better together?

SM: We’ve been working together for just over 10 years, and we’ve discovered that there’s something about our writing process that means we need each other. We’re two cogs in a wheel that work best together, and we spark off each other. I don’t think we’ll ever work apart.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, July 5, 2012

John's Final Footsteps - review of The Berkshire Giant

Photograph copyright: Farrows Creative. For more photos from the event, please visit http://theberkshiregiant.blogspot.co.uk

The Berkshire Giant: John’s Final Footsteps, in Newbury town centre, on Saturday, June 23

THE town had been buzzing all week with the story of John Ever Afraid, with whispers of strange happenings in Aldworth and on Snelsmore Common spreading like wildfire, exacerbated by announcements from milk floats and the distribution of news pamphlets announcing his coming.

And so, on Saturday evening, as darkness fell, a large crowd braved the drizzle to line Northbrook Street to greet the fabled giant, hidden in the walls of Aldworth Church for hundreds of years before finally arising and trekking the 10 miles to Newbury to face his destiny.

His arrival was heralded by a doom-tinged rock & roll band atop a bus, flanked by the devil’s acolytes, stilted skeletal crows who pranced and poked at the crowd as they led the procession through the town and into the Market Place, where the music of a devilish mardi gras band welcomed John himself.

And what a darling John turned out to be. An ungainly figure, with the most soulful blinking blue eyes, he was not to be feared but was himself as timid as a kitten, as he prepared to face his destiny with the devil.

His supporters tried to fight off the acolytes but without success, and John was bowed by his fear, his head in his hands. But through the crowd came the spirit creatures of the forest, - a stag, bear, hare and horse - to save John, festooning him with colour, and bestowing him with antlers of his own.

As John rose back up to the cheers of the crowd, lanterns and fireworks lit up the sky, and a message appeared on the bank building behind him: “I am not afraid anymore”.

Visually stunning, moving, strange and wonderful, this was the culmination of The Corn Exchange’s first large-scale outdoor arts project produced in-house from scratch by creative producer Simon Chatterton, with input from Irish outdoor theatre company Macnas and a host of local volunteers.

The most ambitious project so far in the theatre’s two-year Arts Council-funded outdoor events programme, with additional funding from Greenham Common Trust and West Berkshire Council, it is really quite stunning that a community as outwardly sensible as West Berkshire can come up with something as wonderfully outlandish and beautiful as this.

I don’t know about you, but I rather like the fact that West Berkshire is a little bit weird these days. It rather suits us.

• First published in the Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, June 28, 2012

Darby day - interview with Rhys Darby

NEW ZEALANDERS are officially easy-going - it was confirmed in an academic study last year - but I was pushing the laid back nature of a nation, when owing a series of “hilarious” phone-related issues, I was half an hour late in ringing Kiwi comedian Rhys Darby in his Los Angeles hotel room to chat to him about his forthcoming UK tour.

Fortunately, Darby did his country proud, and did not emit a single grump about my tardiness (oh, and apologies to the lady in Newbury whom I unintentionally phoned four times in my attempts to call California. I did wonder why a swanky LA hotel had a receptionist with a West Berkshire accent).  

I’’ve always been a sucker for a Kiwi accent (blame Neil Finn from Crowded House. No, really. In his younger days, he was hot. Trust me.), and as Darby didn’t seem to mind me calling him “Rhysybabes”, as befits anyone with the first name “Rhys”, my fluster soon passed, and much relaxed chat ensued. Well, 15 minutes’ worth of relaxed chat, anyway. I was ringing from my in-laws’ landline, so I had to watch the clock.

And so, with the time ticking away at premium international rate, I got on with the questions...

CATRIONA REEVES: The show you’re about to tour in the UK is called This Way To The Spaceship - and you’ve written a book with the same title as well. What’s all that about, then?

RHYS DARBY: The idea is that when Armageddon arrives, which it’s going to at the end of 2012, the superpowers have got spaceships ready with an invite list of those who will be allowed on board. Naturally, as I’m currently making waves in Hollywood, I’ll be on the list.

But I don’t want it to just be me, I want others to make it on board as well, so This Way To The Spaceship is basically my advice on how to open a few doors at parties, finding the right doors in the first place, fashion tips, conversation advice; how to work your way in with the right people and achieve your dreams.

The book is on the same theme, so the live show is basically the book interpreted through the mediums of physical stand-up, storytelling and dance.

The book has been published in Australia and New Zealand, but at the moment there’s no UK distributor. I’ll be bringing some copies with me though, for people to buy at the show. It kinds of puts a bit of mystique around the book - you’ve got to see the show to buy the book.

CR: Maybe you should give a free copy of the book to each audience member, as part of the ticket price.

RD: Mmmmm.

CR: You mentioned that there’s some dancing in the show...

RD: ... Yes. I have been compared to a sea serpent trying to mate. Off-season...

CR: ... but also, I understand that you include some dinosaur impressions.

RD: Oh yes, I’ve fed a couple of dinosaurs into the show. Not literally. I do a good t-rex, pterodactyl, velociraptor...

CR: Ooh. That could be a problem. We’ve already got a British comedian called Hugh Dennis who does a magnificent velociraptor.

RD: Maybe we should have a dinosaur impression showdown. He can be a velociraptor, and I’ll be a pterodactyl and swoop down on him.

CR: Right. Anyway, you’re best known as Murray, the band manager in the sitcom Flight of the Conchords (shown in the UK on BBC4). There’s been rumours of a film based on the series flying around for ages - any truth in them?

RD: We had a ‘secret band meeting’ a couple of weeks ago, but nothing’s really progressed yet. We want to do something, but it’s down to them [fellow Kiwis Brett McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, the musical/comedy duo who go by the name Flight of the Conchords and write/star in the series], and they’re pretty busy touring at the moment.

CR: So what are you up to in LA at the moment? Schmoozing and swinging your way into the film industry, or would you prefer to do more television?

RD: Whatever tickles my fancy. I like doing TV, because it’s more like a normal job - it lasts longer, and you get to know everyone working on it, so it becomes more like a family. Saying that, I did have a big US sitcom, and moved over here last year to work on it - and it got cancelled after just a few episodes. It was good that it was in a way; it was tightly scripted, with set up punchlines and American fake laughter. It didn’t stretch me. I like things looser and more improvised.

CR: You played one of the pirate radio DJs in Richard Curtis’ film The Boat That Rocked - that had the feel that you were all working as a family and improvising a lot of the time.

RD: We had a lot of fun on that film. We were all on the boat down in Southampton a lot of the time, and when we did our bits on the radio mic, we were really allowed to let lose and do what we wanted.

The most interesting day was when I was thrown in the ocean and nearly drowned. I was meant to be struggling to swim, but the wet suit I was wearing under my costume was making me too buoyant, so they put diving weights around my waist. I really started to struggle - so it may look like really good acting, but actually I was genuinely thinking I was going to drown.

CR: Your UK tour is going to be a far cry from LA - are you looking forward to it?

RD: Definitely. I’m also looking forward to seeing my wife and children who are going to be coming over to the UK for July and August. My two boys are six and two, and they don’t usually travel with me, so it’s going to be great to have them with me. We’re going to see all the sights. Are there any sights to see in Basingstoke?

CR: Yes. There’s Milestones, Hampshire’s Living History Museum. You can dress up in Victorian costumes, and walk around cobbled streets.

RD: Excellent. They’ll love that. We’ll have a ball in Basingstoke. Hopefully the show will be pretty good too.

* Rhys Darby brings his show, This Way To The Spaceship, to The Anvil in Basingstoke on Tuesday, July 10.

• First published in the Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, June 28, 2012