Laughing Horse @ Bar 50
Aug 5 – 25 (22:15)
Later on the same day that Mark ‘Divine’ Calvert was reviewing David William Hughes’ Elizabethan, I went to see his second Fringe show at the Free Fringe Bar 50 venue. David is British, but teaches music in Boston, USA. An Egon Spengler of the showbiz world, we enter a cocktail lounge of musical archeology, delving into the seventeenth century & elsewhere for classy little nuggets of song. Luckily its beer-o-clock, & David has a knack of getting the crowd singing & clapping along, & its all jolly good fun, tho’ a little underwhelming overall. Like a stained glass window on an overcast Lothain day.
Although clearly a talented musician, I preferred his comedy patter, being perfectly fluid, engaging &, of course, funny. It is rather like he’s a transgender entertainer – if you pardon the metaphor -, a comedian trying to break out of a musician’s body kinda thing. Into the mix go a few of his own songs, which were clever, if slightly sacchirine rhymefests of common observations in the Victoria Wood mould. At the end of the day, Wit & Mirth is entertaining enough, but relatively niche fare. If the Edinburgh Fringe was a Russian Doll, then from the comedy doll comes the musical comedy doll, & within that lies the stuff that David does – but he does do it very well indeed!
Damian Beeson Bullen
Mumble Comedy 