Catherine Ireton - Leaving Home Party Review - The Old Market Brighton - Edinburgh Fringe Preview - 24th July 2014

Walking into a somewhat unfilled auditorium just a few moment before I thought that the show was about to start, I instantly felt an empathy for Catherine Ireton and her unnamed accompanist, who was tinkling away arpeggios of two chords on the piano, which later on in the show would appear to be the backdrop to one of the songs. And there I was thinking that he had itchy fingers!

Then suddenly, in a flurry like shoppers at a Next 5am Boxing Day Sale, the crowd all seemed to appear at once, many of whom with drinks in hand explaining their whereabouts. In a matter of a couple of minutes the centre section filled out nicely and I instantly felt more relaxed for the performers: nobody likes playing to an empty theatre!

I'll be honest; I didn't really know what I was going to see until about an hour before the show, when I found this clip online of Catherine performing one of her songs:

I knew from that moment that I was going to enjoy the show, but I still wasn't entirely sure how it would play out. The stage was set very simply with a few props (no spoilers given here!) which were very efficiently used throughout the one hour show. Next to the accompanist lay a host of instruments, from the piano and guitars to a selection of folky woodwind instruments and a cajon, all of which he played with ease, showing his great dexterity as a musician, making his role an essential one.

The show is the story of how Catherine left her hometown of Limerick in Ireland, taking a one-way flight to Glasgow in 2005 and seeing what the future would hold for her and her travels. The narrative of the story is like a musical, with songs but also spoken sections which are Sprechgesang (sung speech). The songs were heartfelt, honest and humourous and the show flowed effortlessly across the years in which it was set. Dressed simply, Catherine moved freely across the stage, her accent still quite strong, which I must confess I found really charming and I very quickly developed quite a soft-spot for this lovely young lass who had the guts to uproot with nothing but a suitcase and a handful of hopes.

Catherine's show deals with a wide range of issues from love and work to the overarching theme of belonging and feeling at home. The show is based on her real-life experiences but is told without glamourising anything and quite lightheartedly: her observations in one of the early songs about the differences between the UK and Ireland including '4 flavours of Monster Munch' and the pronunciation changes of several words were definitely a comedic highlight.

The show is a fantastic one-person show (with accompanist) and will really get you thinking about life, what you are doing and the risks that perhaps you should be taking. From the showing yesterday, I think that I was definitely in the lower age bracket of the audience, but I would compel younger theatre-goers to give the show a look in, as I think the topics covered are something that all young people can identify with, and I genuinely think that the show could very well change the course of your life. I know that it has got me seriously thinking about mine!

The show will be running throughout Edinburgh Fringe Festival each day from 1st August til 22nd August (excluding Sundays) at 1:15pm at the Red Lecture Theatre, Summerhall

For more information, check out Catherine's details below:

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The Noise Next Door Review - Brighton Komedia - 12th June 2014

With Komedia's Krater Comedy Club dominating the weekend's quota for comedy with consistently high standard stand-up, it must be a real challenge for any other comedy act to meet the audience's expectations. The flip side of this is that Brighton's comedy attending audiences know how to laugh and how to have a good time. This is particularly important in improvised comedy which relies heavily on audience participation such as The Noise Next Door.

The show was by no means your average compilation of stand-up acts, with a quintet of performers, joined by two special guests, on stage and all participating for the majority of the night. Imagine 'Mock The Week' but all the contestants working together to create a coherent two hour show rather than throwing in one-liners to get "points" for their team. By working together, The Noise Next Door are a truly formidable force of creative comedy at the peak of excellence.

The show was divided into three different types of sketch: musical numbers based entirely on audience generated material, physical situational comedy (again generated from audience material) and guest comedians performing stand-up slots before getting involved with the other sketches. These elements were mixed together well like ingredients of a cocktail, shaken up and served over ice with fruit on top to garnish.

The night opened with a hilarious improvised song about a new 70mph speed limit being enforced in Brighton by Mario, by penalty of spanking if caught not complying. With clever rhymes, funny voices and crazy actions it was a great start to the night, swiftly followed by a manic search for a solution to the problem of Tom being stuck to a football by tiramisu.

The first of the two guests was Canadian potty mouth Paul Myrehaug, whose anecdotes about being thrown in a drunk tank for unintentionally assaulting a police officer with a meatball sub and unicorn fantasies were a little out there, but generally received reasonably well. I thought his use of all five microphones to move across the stage was a nice touch however his contributions to the improv later on showed that he was not as practiced as the others in that area of comedy.

After a very skilled piece of physical comedy and mime where Tom (another Tom) and Matt were portraying all the props required in a search for a magic lamp, located in a home for dementia sufferers located on Machu Picchu, the second guest stand-up was Romesh Ranganathan. He talked about Indian culture, veganism and parenting in a side-splitting set, which was followed by a brutal interpretation of what Father's Day would be like with his family, with the guys from TNND playing him, his wife and his two children, a cross-dressing 4-year-old and a feral 2-year-old, with Romesh sat on the side of the stage, squeaking a dog toy if they were accurate and tooting a horn if not. This was followed by the unexpected welcoming to the stage of his actual family, the children seeming happy and his wife taking it all in good spirits.

After an interval the show continued with much of the same, with the second half starting off by acting out several headlines that were written down by the audience during the break. The highlight of this for me was the three-way comedy carousel that was linking together three different sketches together via the topic of STD's; A Loose Women show, a reggae song and a film that was Pretty Woman meets Thriller. The juxtaposition of these sketches worked very well and as with the rest of the show, was very well received.

The finale of the show was a boy band song based on the life on an audience member who was brought to sit up on stage to hear her beautiful ballad. The vodka-loving, marmalade-hating Marketing student who had aspirations to go to Thailand was mildly grilled, with criticisms of her "mickey-mouse degree", the length of her denim shorts and an arsenal or semi-crude sexual puns (not unlike any other boy band song though!). After the initial look of "Get me out of here!!!" she seemed to enjoy it towards the end, before quietly shuffling back to her seat, probably with a thing or two to say to her friends who nominated her to go up.

By far the most impressive part of the show is the speed of which they manage to generate new and genuinely funny material, adapt to unexpected situations verbally and physically and perform in several different accents (some of which were better than others but for me the only thing funnier than somebody putting on a good accent is somebody trying and not quite getting it, so in my eyes that worked to their favour!).

The show is a regular at Komedia, however they will be going up to perform daily at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival so will not be back until after the summer. For fans of comedy, stand-up or sitcoms, the show will be sure to tickle your funnybone from start to finish and the best part is that with improvised comedy, every night is a different performance! Check them out when you can! For more information or to buy a DVD, visit their website below.

http://www.thenoisenextdoor.co.uk/
@NoiseNextDoor