Brighton Fringe 2012
Pig-with-the-face-of-a-boy
Xylophone Productions/Atomic Force Productions
Genre: Musical Theatre
Venue:
The Marlborough
Festival: Brighton Fringe
Low Down
An hour of satirical songs and madcap links.
Review
Dan and Donald sing us songs "what we have written" – guitar and accordion being the tools of their trade. The opening song is a protest song about busking on the underground and the evening is set for a playlist of well written, often witty and enjoyable comedy numbers, linked with some funny banter.
They can sing, they can play. Lyrics are playful, full of satire and an at the heart of many is an ironic take on the establishment. But the protest is slight, we are in the territory made famous by the likes of Richard Digance.
The show rests on short intros and then we are into the next song and there’s a bit of a sense of bemusement as to how to the title of this show sits with what is fairly light and harmless material though it’s all fairly witty.Attempts are made to get near the knuckle but you’ll enjoy this evening more for its fairly safe material. Much further extremes have been explored and it isn’t clear where the show is located along that comedy continuum.
From taxidermy to David Cameron, sheep kissing, placenta eating and cannibalism, the fourth wall is sort of down but it isn’t clear whether we are supposed to interact much or not, beyond applauding. This needs to be rectified and I’d suggest more banter with the audience, otherwise the atmosphere is unnecessarily muted.
There’s scope amongst this energy and talent to explore much more diverse music styles and to punch more forcefully with their satirical material. Tunes feel a bit cliched as do some of the targets for the satire.
The big virtue are the skills of the musicians and the two are joined onstage by two hapless volunteer violinists which lights up the comedy a bit.
It’s a gentle evening of comedic music which finds its comedy feet more as the hour progresses.
If the goon-like "Please do not tread on my cheeseburger" tickles your funny bone then this will be the show for you. Personally I experienced the duo trying hard to be funny and it’s all a bit too derivative. Plenty of talent is present and now they need to evolve their own unique style. When they swap instruments and their tune involves a fun physical bit of clowning with the accordion and guitar we get a hint of what these two could really create if they step out of their safety zone.
That said, there’s enough here – songs, with witty lyrics and links, sung with a high degree of skill to keep you amused for an hour or so.
