Rainer will probably win the prize for the best dressed comedian, with his tails and bow tie. He should also win the prize for the joke that stopped the show for almost five minutes, as one poor woman was in fits of laughter over a Saddam Hussein joke near the end of the show.
The show is primarily a homage to that great classical music pianist/comedian Victor Borge. Rainer starts the show explaining how he (Rainer) started as a stand up comic and gradually started bringing elements of his other passion (classical piano) into the shows. He was then confused as reviews continually compared him to someone called Victor Borge. He had never heard of Mr Borge but upon finding a CD and then the videos (and eventually meeting him), he decided this comedy legend should not be forgotten. This means of course that if you haven’t heard of Victor, this is the perfect primer course.
So after this preamble we are given a life story of Borge Rubenstein, born in Denmark, his life before the Nazi’s came to visit and his life after. We are treated to many of the (once) famous routines including Phonetic Punctuation and a few musical vignettes, plus a little slapstick. The laughs for the most part are based around classical music and the English language, though parts of Victor’s life were hilarious. There are also a number of sad moments, as you would expect in a story involving the Nazis. Note that this is not just a straight retake of a Victor Borge show and Rainer wisely keeps his own comedy to a minimum while telling his tale (but you can buy CD’s after the show in the foyer). The only negative was the sound hadn’t had the bugs ironed out and there was a high-pitched whistle throughout the show (I think a stand mike AND a radio mike is just asking for trouble). This should be fixed for later performances, and was only a small distraction.
The audience mostly consisted of (older) people who have heard of Mr Borge, but the humour is suited to all ages (as long as you know as least the names and tunes of a few of the famous composers – you don’t need a musicology degree for 99% of the show). There is no swearing that I noticed and it is the perfect show to take your children to as they’ll love the slapstick and music, plus it starts at 6pm. One strange thing about this audience was that the front row was full but the second row only had four people in it and the rest of the theatre was full. Lovely theatre that was originally a Masonic Hall so not too hot and very airy.
Visit the Edinburgh Fringe website for booking details