I decided to go to last night's Variety Night at the Imperial in Bilston for one reason only - the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Company were on and having watched all of their You Tube videos I'm quite a fan. It would have been worth the bargain price of £10 just to see them but in the event it proved to be quite astonishingly good value with four more acts and a nice curry thrown in, in a venue I haven't been to before but one I shall certainly consider again.
In terms of the acts the Fizzog Theatre Company probably got overall more time than anyone else by virtue of providing two sketches, joined for one by the compere, Emma Rollason who also introduced the proceedings doing a tribute act to Black Country comedian Dolly Allen. In the role of compere her jokes were old before my dad was born but they were perfect for the evening and never failed to raise a smile. Fizzog had turns in both the first and second halves. The second had four of them performing a sketch about four old ladies at Christmas which was both very accurate and very funny, the first was a character performance as teenager "Wayne Kerr" which, unfortunately, was neither. The name of the character set the levels of originality and style that the skit maintained. Fortunately it was followed by Invocal who were nothing short of marvellous. They were a four piece female vocal group accompanied by guitar and cello. Their songs were inventive and quirky and the performance was great. They pulled off the trick of creating songs that were simultaneously funny, thought-provoking and poignant and with subjects that included chronic depression that's no mean feat.
The second half opened up with poet Brenda Read-Brown who did a set that showed just how it should be done. Her poems were laugh-out-loud funny and her delivery absolutely on the mark. She was followed by that "old lady" sketch from Fizzog (and I think I found it funnier because one of the characters had a caustic, no-nonsense humour that reminded me of one of my own aunties who is sadly no longer with us.)
Then it was time for the "Socks".
For anyone who has got this far without following the links let me explain. It's a Punch And Judy style performance by a guy with two sock puppets and a Scottish accent and if that sounds as if it isn't much fun, go and follow the links now and then come back.
I'll wait.
The thing about it is the humour and all I can say is that even though I'd seen ninety percent of it before it still had me falling off my chair with laughter. Included in the highlights were their send-ups of movies, Halloween and Michael Jackson as well as a couple that I would be very surprised to ever see on You Tube. It was necessarily quite short in such an evening but it would have been worth the tenner on its own.
Overall I can't remember the last time when I enjoyed a gig so much for such a small price. They have another variety night in September and I may just go along.
A review with fewer words.
In terms of the acts the Fizzog Theatre Company probably got overall more time than anyone else by virtue of providing two sketches, joined for one by the compere, Emma Rollason who also introduced the proceedings doing a tribute act to Black Country comedian Dolly Allen. In the role of compere her jokes were old before my dad was born but they were perfect for the evening and never failed to raise a smile. Fizzog had turns in both the first and second halves. The second had four of them performing a sketch about four old ladies at Christmas which was both very accurate and very funny, the first was a character performance as teenager "Wayne Kerr" which, unfortunately, was neither. The name of the character set the levels of originality and style that the skit maintained. Fortunately it was followed by Invocal who were nothing short of marvellous. They were a four piece female vocal group accompanied by guitar and cello. Their songs were inventive and quirky and the performance was great. They pulled off the trick of creating songs that were simultaneously funny, thought-provoking and poignant and with subjects that included chronic depression that's no mean feat.
The second half opened up with poet Brenda Read-Brown who did a set that showed just how it should be done. Her poems were laugh-out-loud funny and her delivery absolutely on the mark. She was followed by that "old lady" sketch from Fizzog (and I think I found it funnier because one of the characters had a caustic, no-nonsense humour that reminded me of one of my own aunties who is sadly no longer with us.)
Then it was time for the "Socks".
For anyone who has got this far without following the links let me explain. It's a Punch And Judy style performance by a guy with two sock puppets and a Scottish accent and if that sounds as if it isn't much fun, go and follow the links now and then come back.
I'll wait.
The thing about it is the humour and all I can say is that even though I'd seen ninety percent of it before it still had me falling off my chair with laughter. Included in the highlights were their send-ups of movies, Halloween and Michael Jackson as well as a couple that I would be very surprised to ever see on You Tube. It was necessarily quite short in such an evening but it would have been worth the tenner on its own.
Overall I can't remember the last time when I enjoyed a gig so much for such a small price. They have another variety night in September and I may just go along.
A review with fewer words.
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