Russel Kane’s show is called Dressage, but I don’t think that’s why he prances about the stage like a skittish pony. I get the impression that’s just how he is, a fairly surprisingly cerebral standup with a very mercurial physicalality. One of the things we learn in this show is that Russell shocked his hard father by telling him that he wanted to be a dancer. There’s a touch of Billy Elliot going on in the background of this show and Russel has some serious partially unresolved father issues. There are a lot of things going on in this show but at the root of it all, is his exploration of masculinity and his relationship with his hard, ignorant working class father.
It seems inevitable that Russell will be compared with Noel Fielding the jumping around, the intelligence and charisma, the tousseled hair, girls clothes and less face it, he’s very pretty, but this is a very different kind of show. Russell Kane is much more personal in his approach. He’s a bit like an easily distracted teenager giving us chapters from his sociology essay in between personal stories and getting to know people in the front row. He went 15 mins over and admitted that the show is different every night because he gets distracted. I thought it was going to be a sort of Billy Connolly show where he surprises you by eventually getting back the point and tying it all together, but I didn’t feel that he did a very good job of that. I’m pretty sure no one really minded because the show was so funny and entertaining.
In between philosophising about the dances we dance to find approval and love, we learned a lot about his impoverished upbringing, his tough, alcoholic, disabled granny, falling out with his dad over racism and moving in with his Granny, trying to bring girls home there, and being the first person in his family or even street to go to university. He wonders how he grew up with a love of reading, so different from those around him. He is fascinated by the changing face of masculinity, from his father’s generation of distant, angry silent men who were brilliant with tools, to the modern man in touch with his feelings, not afraid to read books or have artistic outlets, but unable to fix anything. Sometimes I wonder if comedians are just using us as therapy.
Lets face it, girls often pick their comedy shows because of the cuteness of the guy on the poster, I’m pleased to report that there is a solid show behind the pretty face. The only thing that annoyed me about Russell was his habit of crossing his eyes to get a cheap laugh. Otherwise his physicality is pretty endearing and the content of his show intelligent, fresh and really funny. Russell also does acclaimed shows related to Shakespeare and I hope he brings one of those out here soon.
Russell Kane runs until April 18th. Visit the comedy festival >> website for >> bookings and further details.