Review: Comedian Russell's take on life had fans in stitches all evening
The title of Russell Kane's stand-up tour is Smallness – but it certainly can't be referring to the length of his stints on stage if last night was anything to go by, writes Sophie Madden.
His performance at Shrewsbury's Theatre Severn was only supposed to last for an hour, but actually went on for a full 40 minutes longer than intended – and I was in stiches for most of it.
The show started with warm-up act Steve Bugeja who, true to his billing, got the crowd going.
But a couple of his jokes did fall flat, particularly one about a Shrewsbury toastie shop – and it's normally hard to misjudge that kind of local, topical banter.
Kane, however got his local jokes right on the money and the crowd loved it.
His impression of the Telford accent was one of my highlights of the night, as was his depiction of the 'Telford Syndrome' walk – but, in fairness, he did go on to compliment the town's Oakengates Theatre.
Russell Kane uses his whole body during his performance.
He's constantly walking around the stage, doing voices, faces and actions to tell his stories to the full.
There's so much energy on stage you feel tired just watching him.
As I said, the title Smallness doesn't refer to the length – at least not in Shrewsbury anyway – it is supposed to be the Essex comedian's take on Britishness, and how we manage to keep things small in a big world.
Mostly, his subject matter was too rude to print in a family newspaper, and I was quite glad I wasn't the 15-year-old boy in the front row, who had come with his mum and was picked out by the comedian during the show as I can only imagine the car journey home after was particularly awkward.
Safer topics he discussed were Brits abroad, his upbringing, the north-south divide – particularly referring to his Mancunian fiancée – and the sometimes awkward nature of the British people.
One thing is for certain, the motor-mouth comedian never gave you the impression this was something he had rehearsed, it felt like this was a show just for Shrewsbury.
The Smallness tour continues tonight at Stafford's Gatehouse Theatre before moving on to further venues around the country, lasting until May.
