Auckland is lucky enough to have a dedicated comedy venue, The Classic, which is a great little place with excellent character. It currently houses a big bar at the front, a large theatre downstairs and a smaller loft style room upstairs that seats about 75.Tom Wrigglesworth was upstairs, in fact he was rather conspicuously hanging round the little bar in the room. You couldn’t really miss him, he’s very tall, gangly, was wearing a RAF jacket and has a huge Sideshow Bob hairstyle. The show began with some melancholy music and Tom reading his ‘Open Letter to Richard Branson’ in a manner I can only describe as Kitsonesque. I found the similarity of his accent and style to Daniel Kitson so astonishing that I was a bit distracted but he was soon welcoming everyone warmly and doing some housekeeping before the show proper.
Tom had been delayed in the UK by the Volcanic ash and thus had arrived later in New Zealand than planned with no time to acclimatise or do any warm up gigs. So he begged our forgiveness for his woolly, jetlagged brain and asked us to be on the lookout for any references in the show we didn’t understand. I actually believe the slightly shambolic nature of this performance helped endear Tom to the laid back New Zealand audience. I also believe his being jetlagged suited the story he told.
The story itself begins with Tom being hung over on a train trip from Manchester to London. He needs a coffee but is unable to purchase one because of ridiculous bureaucratic bungling, that sets in motion a series of events that leads to Tom being arrested for protesting the annoying practice by British Trains of making passengers pay an exorbitant amount for a ticket purchased on the train as opposed to pre-paid fares, i.e. 3 pounds as opposed to 115 pounds. He was protesting on behalf of an elderly lady called Lena who was actually a victim of an error by the company itself and the story later made it into the newspapers. I don’t want to give it all away, suffice to say that the story is true and Tom used his brilliant comedic skills to create a very funny tale with a myriad of call backs, observations and the odd sidestep. He also created a marvellous villain in personifying the Train Manager as a petty ,vindictive heartless, tyrant.
There was more housekeeping at the end where Tom learned that we don’t know the term ‘bell end’, so from now on he will say ‘knob end’ and we can consider ourselves educated in a new swear word. The audience were also keen to let him know that we didn’t mind his small hiccups and deconstructions. He was so sweet, quite the gallant hero in his tale and such a skilled storytelling comedian that we could forgive him anything. I can’t help but add that if you are a fan of Daniel Kitson, you will love this show, it was very similar in style and Tom also has a very similar accent and comedic style. This is not a put down at all, if he has been influenced at all, he could not have chosen a better mentor. It was a stunning show and I can only hope that he can be coaxed into bringing it to Melbourne next year.
Visit the NZ Comedy Festival Website for booking details.