Having seen the brilliance of Adam Riches I was keen to see
him again this year. Invasive my delight when I heard he's doing the shows this
year - one afternoon show taking place everyday, and two evening shows which
he's alternating every two days.
This first I saw was the afternoon show, which took place at
the Cow Café. Normally this space is a regular café at the Underbelly on
Cowgate, but Riches situation takes over this space for this special show.
As the audience files in, Riches is day in the middle on a
table on his own, surrounded by newspapers, a coffee and his phone. We slowly
fill the tables and sofas around him - you can immediately tell this isn't your
average festival show. Nor, indeed, is it a usual Adam Riches show.
Unlike his previous shows, a mixture of sketches all
involving some brave audience participation, this show is a sustained
narrative, where his character, a slightly smarmy, over friendly, faintly
threatening 'Guy', picks out a female audience member who's been recently
dumped and proceeds to offer her, with the help of a willing audience, to help
her heal from the break up.
Along the way, other audience members are invited to share
advice, or to undergo some similar grilling from Riches' character to reveal
the success and flaws their own relationships and give an insight into previous
break ups as well as some close quarters crowd group therapy.
However, what's subtly happening is 'the Guy' is slowly
inveigling his way into his target, and we the audience are complicit. Perhaps
it's not until it's too late that we realise what's happened and we've all been
chased into a corner, and at the very end Riches calls us on it.
It's hard to imagine this performance working on a
conventional stage - the open structure of a large café works perfectly,
allowing Riches to prowl amongst us and really charm and intimidate up close.
It's a fascinating exploration of emotional manipulation, of
male predatory behaviour and group/societal responses to these. Really smart,
funny and beguiling - a fascinating, engrossing show.
Score: 9/10
Venue: Underbelly on Cowgate, Cow Cafe
Dates: 9th-26th August
Time: 14:10
Price: £8 everyday
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