Chris and I went to see Count Arthur Strong at LPAC in Lincoln last Thursday. He is currently touring with his new show 'Is there anybody out there?' We absolutely loved the show and laughed a lot. I was going to write about my highlights, but I found a review which sums up the show far better than I could.
This review is by Steve Bennett at the Leicester Square Theatre, London and can be found
here.
"Science has given us great communicators like Carl
Sagan, able to convey the complex, awesome mysteries of the universe with
wonder and perfect clarity. Count Arthur Strong is not one of them.
In his new show – one of his funniest yet –
the constantly befuddled star of stage and screen addresses the vast subject of
‘astromonography’ from the ‘Big Bump’ to space exploration.
Needless to say he does not stick to his planned
trajectory. How many talks about cosmology end up with long digressions about
bats being hit on the head with pineapples or an attempt to name the films of
‘Dustbin’ Hoffman?
Each turn of events makes certain sense to him at
the time, until he suddenly comes to, hit by a sudden realisation how far
off-topic he’s strayed. If punchlines are essentially misdirection, Count
Arthur has the advantage that even he doesn’t appear to know where he was
supposed to be heading in the first place.
One malapropism leads into another, and words
prompt entirely unrelated memories – ‘I’ll tell you who had long arms!’ he
non-sequiturs, leading into a wonderful reverie from the variety hall days. And
his playlet depicting the origins of the telescope, as invented by ‘Gary
Barlow’ is hilarious – you’ll never hear Galileo’s name in quite the same
way again.
The Count’s professional background is shrouded in
ambiguity, as is the premise of this show, which starts as some sort of pitch
to replace his nemesis, Brian Cox, on the BBC but freely drifts into a talk to
schoolchildren, complete with a conversation with the first monkey in space
that turns a bit Rod Hull in one of his now-ubiquitous ventriloquism routines.
Not that it matters. Like so much in the Arthur
Strong universe (no pun intended), the silliness doesn’t hold up to much
scrutiny, but the random outbursts are viscerally funny, more than the mix-ups
and misunderstandings have any right to be.
It’s a verbal slapstick, and like the physical sort
is enhanced by the character. Someone falling over is funny; a pompous ass
falling over and blaming the ground for hitting him even more so.
That Count Arthur is a proud and stubborn
know-it-all adds force to the many gags Steve Delaney packs into these two
hours. His enduring alter ego is so certain in himself that he ploughs on with
his mistakes pigheadedly, and is quick to pick fights others when his train of
thought inevitably derails, whether it’s his unseen stage hand, us in the
audience, or just some random unseen force that stops him from being
responsible for his actions.
Asides give brief glimpses into how this
curmudgeonliness leaches into his offstage life, irritating everyone he comes
into contact with. And then there’s his pretentious affectations, such as
pronouncing ‘actual’ as ‘arctual’ in the hope of adding gravitas to his
idiocy.
All this, and the inherent surreal unpredictability
of proceedings, will have you laughing like a drain at some of the set pieces.
The count’s dubious musical talents that top and tail the show are a delight,
the elusive words and rhythm even more hilarious when under pressure to keep .
And his dance moves! The Quo hands-on-hips twist to Bowie’s Starman is
something else…
Count Arthur’s BBC One show might be dead
– unless he can land that stint on The Sky At Night – but the good
count was always best live, and this proves it. Even if it definitely isn’t
rocket science… "
It was an excellent show with a tour de force performance from the man himself. I particularly enjoyed the list of chocolate bars named after space bodies and bats being hit on the head with pineapples...
Count Arthur has appeared in his own tv series and also radio too - there are lots of snippets on youtube if you are intrigued. If the tour is coming near you, do try to catch it.
