The Ballad of Rodger and Grace
Daniel Kitson has made it pretty clear over the past few years that he doesn’t want a mainstream audience. Well… what he really wants is to discourage the ‘mindless c&@ts’ out for a cheap drunken laugh. He has contrived this by refusing to perform his standup show on Friday and Saturday nights and by putting his other shows on at strange times like near midnight or, as in this year, 4 o’clock in the afternoon. So it was a bit hard to sympathise with his jocular reference to the 1/2 filled Bosco theatre as his personal failure. I thought it was a pretty good crowd for a Thursday before Easter and they were certainly devotional.
Having sat through some sad romantic house music with the glitter ball spinning sparkles of light around the tent, the lights came on and Daniel and Gavin Osborn moseyed into the room and chatted to us about their day, tour and other charming and amusing stuff. There was a lovely sense of hospitality that I remember from the late night show of last year; they treated the audience like friends popping in for a cuppa and a tale. The format was explained and then they went into the performance of the story, only breaking out of formality again for a chat afterwards.
The typically brilliant story is pretty much summed up in their elegant black and white poster. I don’t wish to spoil it for you by giving any away, suffice to say it is romantic, beautiful and funny – and you may want to pack some tissues. Gavin’s presence adds another wonderful dimension to this show. He and Daniel sort of play the two main characters in the story, Daniel in the removed third person and Gavin in the first person and in song. The songs tell their own story and contrast with Daniel’s rapid fire, dense, prose very eloquently. The glitter ball reappears to add magic and Gavin also plays some incidental music to add atmosphere. The only strange note was the last line, which my friend felt was a bit of a cold slap in the face, reminiscent of the ending of Atonement. But Daniel loves to throw in surprises.
This was a magical show that you could happily take your mum to. Daniel doesn’t say ‘c&@t’ once.
Visit the comedy festival website for bookings and further details