Edinburgh Fringe 2009
Low Down
Finding a hero called Tim – is this mission impossible? Frantic, absurd and surreal comedy as a man called Tim sets out to become the first so named to achieve notoriety.
Review
There’s no-one famous called Tim is there. Tim’s aren’t heroes or winners. I mean, can you think of a world leader that has been called Tim? A cult hero? A major celebrity? A big sports star? OK, we had Tim Henman for a while but he won more sympathy than he did major tennis tournaments. So that proves it. Tim is simply not a name that creates headlines.
But one man is out to change all that, and his name’s Tim. Against all the odds he strives to prove that someone called Tim can be seen by the world at large as a hero, a winner, a champion. And to help him he has someone called Maxwell Thor. No-one with a name like Maxwell Thor is ever going to be a hero, are they? This couldn’t all go wrong and end up with Tim, yet again, looking nice but dim?
We set off in a race against time to turn Tim into that hero figure he craves. He dives from bridges to pull people, dogs and babies from a fast flowing river, embarks on a mission to slay the ba ba ba ba monster, finds himself as a galley slave in a rowing boat and meets a raisin eating ghost as the plot swerves from absurdist to surreal to maniacal and back again.
It’s not so much fast paced as frantic with the wonderfully scripted dialogue creating laugh after laugh. There is a great bond between writer performers Jonathan Donahoe and Daniel Benoliel. They seem to complete each others’ lines and bicker comically over who is supposed to be doing what in the show, slipping seamlessly out of and into character as they do so. They work the audience well too, such that we are all waving our little “Tim” flags and rooting for him to achieve cult status. Is Tim going to achieve this against all odds as this hilarious show builds to its pulsating climax? Knit yourself a “Tim” flag, go along and find out. And if your name’s Tim, don’t be afraid to join in the fun – this could be your day too.
