Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Gavin Lilley Signs of the Times
Gavin Lilley
Genre: Comedy, Solo Show, Stand-Up
Venue: Edinburgh Deaf Festival
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A symbolically rich stand-up comedy routine that makes us laugh from the belly while conveying a positive view of life that sinks deep into our souls long after the show has finished.
Review
Within the noisy and crazy madness of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival lies a smaller and quiter festival which however prizes diversity and alternative thinking as no ether event in Edinburgh. It is the deaf festival which will run from the 8th to the 17th of August.
The festival hosts a series of different events and, of course, a number of theatrical and artistic performances.
Gavin Lilley’s “Sign of the Times” is one of them. The artist is an imposing large man who could have easily come out from the sequel of Gladiator. One would imagine him brandishing a sword and fighting scores of men in the arena of the Colliseum. However, what he showed us during his 1 hour long performance is a profound and at times even poetic piece of work which shows his vulnerability as the third member of a deaf generational lineage.
All of this delivered through a stand up comedy piece which not only makes us laugh but really uplift our spirit in a world so full of negativity. This is not only an hour of escapism but also a spiritual Zen-like experience where we are led to appreciate how simple things in life can be turn into a silly experience when seen from the eyes of a deaf person.
If you think that deaf stand-up comedy can be something of a limited experience for hearing audience members nothing can be further from the truth. It is rather a sensorial enhanced immersion. Gavin’s performance is accompanied by a sign translator and a TV screen placed next to him that captions the show in real time. A special mention should be given here to the intepreter and the captioner as their backstage support is flawless and, one should be imagine, also the fruit of hard earned knowledge and skill.
While so many stand-up comedy routines tend to be, nowadays, full of negative and destructive emotions such as depression, mental illness, alienation, etc. Gavin takes us to a world where the subject of laughter for a deaf person is as simple as a doorbell or a supermarket cue. In his excellent performance Gavin talks about himself and his experience as a member of the deaf community from early school years to adulthood, to becoming a father of 3 children (2 of them deaf and 1 a hearing one).
However, partly because deaf language has at its core strong symbolism and also because sign language borders with physical theatre we can literally “picture in our head” Gavin’s stories. We are not asked to perform intellectual feats and interpreting the jokes but rather we are put into an almost trance like state where we effortlessy accompany Gavin in his voyage through deaf-world hearing-world relationships. In addition the use of facial mask by the deliverer is so intense that what he says is accompanied by the attribute that finally lowers any psychological shield we may have: “sincerity”.
The effect is that at times we find ourselves laughing from “the belly” rather than the brain as the image created by Gavin’s storytelliing have something of a cinematic element much closer to the clown world than the stand-up comedy one. Indeed, one wonders if all of these stories could one day even make material for a TV series as it would be extremely easy to transpose them to film.
Its authenticity, visual features, and strong symbolic effect on the audience, makes this performance completely different from any other stand-up comedy routine we may watch in the hearing world. This is not empty cynical comedy but something that goes along a wave of optimism and appreciation on the gift of life. Its underlying message accompanies the spectator way long after the show is finished. This message is not conveyed consciously but rather subconsciously and therefore sinks very deep into our soul.
Overall a fantastic experience and a show whose message is so strong that it would also be worthy to be delivered in educational contexts such as schools or universtities as it opens in an effortless and light manner the door to an alternative universe which is oftentimes invisible to us.
