Review of The Roffle Club
 | "Off the wall and wonderful" by Maddy Ryle for remotegoat on 01/03/10 |  |
The bill for this second outing of the monthly Roffle Club had been selected with skill, each act offering something unique and often hilarious but sharing a taste for the surreal, the dark, and the musical. The slightly makeshift feel of the space - with its fold-up chairs and a low stage very close to the audience - made it very convivial and helped accentuate the more disturbing characteristics of the performers, who were an unhinged lot.
Max and Ivan, when not in bandanas and cowboy boots, showed off their sense for timing and physical comedy in sketches such as their trailer for 'The Brothers Mario' - fraternal love and violence in freeze-frame facial contortions, or the classic camp couple stereotype ("we have coasters for that") made borderline with the addition of incest. The brother things crops up a lot I guess. And they don't give two pieces of silver for your political correctness.
Their guests were all great value. The Three Englishmen (of whom there seemed to be four) did a great crystal maze sketch in an Italian restaurant (all the acts made good use of voiceover), and a wonderfully pointless barbershop song about housemates making scrambled eggs together. Dave McNeill's bizarre rambling rants about computers and driving instructor recruitment came out of leftfield and went right back into it, leaving you wondering what the hell you just witnessed but really hoping you don't bump into the guy in a dark alleyway since he seems truly deranged. Making a show for the females Pippa Evens was possibly my favourite act. Her turn as a much-jilted and utterly psychotic American country singer who wants to put her love in a box ("when they find the body they won't be able to identify you so you'll be buried in a cardboard coffin - at least you'll feel at home") was again really quite alarming and just brilliant.
Last up and most touted was a half-hour headline slot from Angelos Epithemou of Shooting Stars fame. In seriously half-mast trousers pulled up to his armpits, cringey quilted raincoat, bottle-thick glasses and clutching a supermarket carrier bag he wandered around the stage making sweeping arm movements, getting ragged with the audience and the sound tech, producing carved tusks and inflatable microphones for no reason, and generally being a bit hideous. And very funny. How he managed to be so funny while doing almost nothing is quite a trick. He had three jokes to fill his performance around. I'll leave you with one of them: what is the difference between a kangaroo and a kangaroot. One is an Australian marsupial; the other is a Geordie stuck in a lift.
Yeah anyway, it was a really good night - definitely recommended to finish off your Sunday session.Add your review? Have your say, add your review
Other recent reviews by Maddy Ryle
