Imagine if Frank Woodley and Josie Long had a ditzy Aunt who was determined to put on a show and got up at a family party to let everyone know what it was going to be like. A Preamble was a strange little entertaining show about an anxious, talented performer having trouble trying to get ready to put on her comedy festival show.
We first met the performer while waiting outside to go in, in the character of a Scottish Occupational Health & Safety officer being bossy to everyone. I felt I might have missed the reason for this character, that perhaps there was a health & safety reason for the delay of the show which forced Eva to give us her preamble until things were ready for the actual show to start. If not I couldn’t really see the point of this character apart from a few silly laughs and impressing us with her excellent Scottish accent, one of the most difficult to do.
When Eva herself entered the space it was for an extended mime where she hunted down a ringing mobile phone using a lot of great vaudeville style visual gags. The giggling sound person was having a ball playing with Eva, using sound and lighting to vex her at every turn. A lot of the gags here were obviously designed for the kind of theatre with hidden techs and useful scrims, trapdoors etc, so the element of surprise was lacking a little. I felt that despite this, there was a lot of scope for Eva to get laughs from the intimacy of the space and have a relationship with the tech person who was sitting beside the audience. We could all see her and hear her clicking on & off the lights & sound with impeccable timing, you might as well bring her into the show.
Eva did bring the audience into her show, a LOT. By the end every person in the audience was given a job to do and many were dragged up on stage. Her show had a dangerous edge that relied heavily on the generosity of her audience and a crowd large enough to spread out the jobs. Don’t go along hoping to sit back and be passive, but don’t worry too much about joining in, she’s very nice to her audience. Highlights of this creative, loopy extravaganza included her strong singing voice, her excerpt from the film ‘Now Voyager’ and the speed-mime of her favourite film moments. It was all a bit chaotic and confusing at times, but lots of fun, only 45 minutes and worth checking out.
Visit the Comedy@Trades Website for booking details.