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PAPPY'S FUN CLUB: FUNERGY - * * * *
Tom Waits once scoffed when asked if he'd
had fun. 'Fun?' he snapped. 'Fun? I've had
an entertaining and interesting evening, but I've never had fun.'
In that case Mr Waits, head over to Pappy's Fun Club where the amount
of fun on offer might well save the planet.
OK, we agree, fun is a terrible word, a concept
more likely to be forced upon an individual
than undertaken voluntarily. Yet in the hands
of Brendan Dodds, Matthew Crosby, Tom Parry and Ben Clark, fun really
is fun. It's also impossible to resist this show's raft of ideas that
share a room with surreal and border on deranged.
This is in essence a sketch show, but with
a surprisingly decent, if daft, narrative.
The world's in danger, global warming threatens
and Pappy (the mysterious, wealthy and unseen
benefactor of the Fun Club) is demanding his employees to do something
about it. Cue Funergy and an irate blue whale.
All four members of Pappy's are engaging
performers, each with a distinct personality
that complements the rest. Parry, loud, sweaty
and by far the silliest, steals most of the
big laughs. But this is only made possible
by Crosby's intelligent wit, Clark's half-wit and Dodds' gentle underdog.
Inevitably some scenes work better
than others, but this is a show to be enjoyed as a whole.
It's a fair bet that you'll never look at
owls, stuntmen, the internet or the city
of Nottingham in the same light after you've
seen this. And you really should see this.
Mickey
Noonan
Original link: www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/edfest/...
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