Short Sharp Shows
July 26, 2005 at 11.06 amI spent almost the entirety of Sunday in bed, with a duvet, laptop and Battlestar Galactica DVDs for company. Absolute bliss.
On Monday morning, however, I realised that I’d completely forgotten about the 24:7 Theatre Festival, which started on Sunday and runs for the rest of this week. It’s sort of like a (very) poor man’s Edinburgh Fringe. The website’s pants, but the shows are good. Well, the ones I’ve seen, anyway.
Last year’s best effort was people’stalking:
Lance is trying to sell his flat, but is hindered by a massive clown who won’t leave. John comes to view the flat and the pair’s secrets come to light, watched by the eyes of the ever-present clown.
The massive clown in question spent most of his time hiding, being subversive, or both. It never became clear who could see the clown - just Lance, everyone, or no-one.
Very bizarre, but utterly compelling.
Anyway, it turns out that my mate Howell had completely forgotten about it as well. Emails flew, and I sent him my annotated list, which basically had four shows I’d quite like to see. It turns out that Howell had picked three of the same four, so we narrowed it down to two, cancelled our Monday night engagements, and went for it.
I emailed/txted a few others, and Phil decided to join us.
We saw two shows:
The First Rule of Comedy
One woman show, in two halves - firstly a stand-up gig (complete with internal monologue) that goes really badly, then a sort of after-dinner speaker affair, set a few years later, about the comic’s trials and tribulations since. Pretty good, although it tailed off a bit towards the end.
The French Lectures
No matter what the above review says, it’s bloody brilliant. We laughed almost all the way through it. Possibly the best way of describing it is to say that it’s like Little Britain, but without the tedious bits.
After all that, we headed to the wondrous drinking establishment that is the Knott Bar for a beer or two. That place is GREAT!
Howell was on top form, as usual…
Howell
My mates view me (I think!) as a highly sociable bloke, who’s always off visiting new places and doing random stuff.
I view Howell as a highly sociable bloke, who’s always off visiting new places and doing random stuff.
The man’s like a walking City Life. Not so much “finger on the pulse” as “watching the big machine that goes BEEP”.
Stuff he’s done includes:
- Staking out supposedly haunted places all night, looking for ghosts.
- Going to Japan to meet Monkey…even having dinner with Monkey’s wife.
- Starring in various highly amusing videos made by film student mates (etc.) back at university.
I’ve known him for a couple of years now, and he still surprises me on a regular basis. Last night, it was the story of his trip to a Tokyo toilet showroom, complete with musical lavatories and high pressure water jets. Oh, and he’s now playing in the Manchester touch rugby league.
The fact that Howell is (until you get to know him) just a fairly nondescript, quiet little Welsh guy, really adds to the effect.
