When not hiding behind his elaborate characters, Scott Pollard often used his stand up spots around the traps to tell extended stories about his wacky exploits in the real world. Sucker Punch can be seen as somewhat of a culmination of these tales. Despite the promotional blurb reading like an all out prank campaign, it was actually more a fascinating journey of self discovery.
Segments of his older material slotted in perfectly to give the appropriate background to the man and provide set up for the newer parts of the tale. He was able to give us explanations to his seemingly bizzare behaviour and with that knowledge, we could digest what was to follow without scepticism.
This show could be viewed as a work in progress as we witnessed developments from that morning’s newspaper. Scott has created a work that has been given a life of it’s own that may possibly create more content for him as the season continues and even after the festival is over.
For the most part the show relied on Scott’s colourful descriptions of events with a little bit of physical performance to convey the stories. He provided plenty of detail to transport us to the scene and there was even an audible gasp when things suddenly went pear shaped in the adventure. He is definitely one of the better storytellers in the business. The liberal use of images and YouTube footage illustrated the majority of his material, lending credibility to Scott’s factual accounts that were so outlandish that they could only be true.
His rather soft spoken demeanor gives the show a certain charm. In the past he has had a slightly nervous air to him that wouldn’t have been out of place in the context of this show but this performance was handled with confidence and ease, even in the face of technical glitches. The enthusiasm he gave to telling of his tales had us spellbound and laughing along with him.
Sucker Punch was a wonderful show that managed to fit a lot of material into its hour length. Just as Scott learnt about himself, we learnt more about the man behind costumes.
Visit the Sucker Punch website for bookings and further details