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Friday 9th December 2016

5128/18048

Two ends of the theatrical spectrum today. This morning we went to the Pleasance London to see “The Cat in the Hat”. I am not sure I’ve ever really enjoyed the work of Dr Seuss and his most famous creation is an odd character, who I find it hard to warm to. This play, though perhaps not aimed at me, did not sway me in his favour. It involves two kids who are stuck indoors on a rainy day, who get a visit from a Cat whose main talking point is that he wears a hat (and he thinks that is clever because it rhymes with what he is) and then proceeds to cause mayhem and smash stuff and generally behave like a cunt, before fucking off. The anarchy of it is perhaps appealing to children, but it feels like mean-spirited anarchy to me, the actions of a bored and malevolent force who wants to get the children into trouble (though is kind enough to come back and help them tidy up - though I only saw him pick up one thing himself). It’s an expression of childhood in some way, I suppose, but I didn’t like it when I was a kid and as an adult I think the Cat in the Hat should be called the Twat who is a Twat.

Phoebe was her usual theatre-going self, in that she sat very still and watched everything with intense seriousness. Her slightly older friend reacted more and more correctly by crying with fear when the Cat in the Hat appeared.

The show ends with the kids’ mother returning home and the kids not knowing what to tell her about what happened. What would you do? ask the cast. At least opening the possibility that if you are visited by a weird stranger who makes you smash up the house and lets in two of his mates who do even worse, that you maybe shouldn’t tell your parents. Which doesn’t seem very healthy. I am not suggesting for a second that the Cat in the Hat is a child molester (though he seems willing to torment them psychologically), just that he is a facilitator of child molesters. If the kids keep quiet about this, then it will be easier for them to be made to keep quiet for other less quirky and wacky visitors.

Hats off (thought without the hat the cat is just a cat) to the young actors who shouted and gurned their hearts out and kept up their enthusiasm at this unGodly hour (the show started at 10.30am). The older kids were delighted by the mayhem and once Thing 1 and Thing 2 arrives even I was carried away a bit with the overthrow of order. My problem is with Dr Seuss, I think.

And at the other end of the day I went to see Brendon Burns at the Museum of Comedy (he was performing there, he isn’t yet an exhibit). Brendon is a fascinating and thoughtful stand up, even if he might be perceived by some people as brash and loud (not that I personally think those things are bad). His show about perceptions about race and political correctness is just as electrifying and compelling as Bridget Christie’s, but whilst she is selling out a 400+ seater, tonight Brendon has around about a tenth of that number (though those 40 people were incredibly enthusiastic and committed). Both acts have won the Perrier (or whatever it pretends to be called these days) and both are great at what they do and to be fair they have different spheres of influence and there are certainly places where audience numbers would be reversed. But it sort of illustrates what I was talking about yesterday about 100 people in Bridgwater. Brendon is very happy with where he’s at in his career and rightly so. He’s doing some amazing stuff all over the world. But it’s interesting to try and work out what propels one act into the “big time” and not another. I think a lot of it is blind chance. And it’s hard to argue that Brendon has been over looked, given he has won the major comedy award. 

Anyway, this intimate venue suited him and I think you’ll like this show. It will make you think, make you feel a bit sick and one suspects he is plucking quite a few of the really nice comedic ideas out of thin air. He’s not toeing any lines, but nor is he (often) being shocking for the sake of it. It’s a thoughtful look at our prejudices and the negative part that political correctness is playing, without being all Andrew Lawrence about it. And that comparison is interesting, because Brendon might have lost his shit at not becoming a superstar after his Fringe successes, but he’s actually embraced the good things about being under the radar. He should be over the radar for sure. But he doesn’t give a fuck. It’s exciting and refreshing. And for example, his realisation that the idea of being a “tolerant” society is a pretty offensive idea, is just one of the times he skewers a pertinent truth that might have passed us by. We shouldn’t be just tolerating each other, right?  How negative is that?

As always with Brendon you can never quite be sure what happens next and I don’t want to give anything away, but suffice to say that the last 30 minutes is an utter and even more fascinating delight as well. Catch him if you can. He’s less of a cunt than the Cat in the Hat and you can’t say fairer than that.



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