Forgive me Father, it’s been four months since my last Screaming Blue Murder. And haven’t things changed since then? Sadly, not all for the best (frankly, not at all for the best), but more of that later. One aspect that remains as constant as the Northern Star, is the presence of MC Dan Evans, the host with the most; indeed, one sometimes wonders where we would be without him. As always, Dan got to grips with discovering the ins-and-outs of the audience members, including the young man who worked in the warehouse and his other half who worked in The Artichoke (don’t know it, but it sounds posh), and the man from Rugby who accidentally arrived a week early for a show in the Royal, but thought he’d take his chance with a spot of comedy instead.
Our first act was Becky Umbers, a diminutive New Zealander with a bright personality and a gurgly voice. I’m not being rude here – Ms Umbers devotes at least 30% of her act to various observations about her vocal tones; she readily admits even other New Zealanders can’t understand her sometimes. She has a nicely confiding style and some unique stories, all of which, you sense, are probably pretty much true. It’s with a certain degree of shame that she tells us of the road trip where – basically – she knocks down a kiwi; no, not one of her fellow citizens but a real kiwi, which is probably a worse crime as they’re endangered. Delivered with confidence and an endearing personality, it was slightly low on laughter, but that was probably due to the size of the audience (clue: it wasn’t a big audience.)
Next up we had Gbemi Oladipo, a lively Nigerian in a jumper almost as loud as him. He bursts forth on the stage with no holds barred and delivers a serious of sharply comic observations with attack and a huge sense of fun. He plays off the audience with ease and is quick to pick up on any verbal (or even visual) reactions anyone might have to his stories. I loved his material about the ignominy of dying on a Ryanair flight, and why, at his age, he’s decided it’s time for him to start drinking. He has a very engaging stage persona and we’d be very happy to see him again.
Our final act was… no, there was no final act. Since Screaming Blue Murder has transferred to the Filmhouse – temporarily we hope, whilst the Underground space is finally made safe from all that RAAC – it’s bucked the trend of most other comedy nights and gone from three to two comedians (but for no reduction in ticket price, I notice). To be fair, although Screen 2 is not the ideal venue for a comedy night, needs must and it has enabled Screaming Blue and other comedy performers to continue to come to the Royal and Derngate throughout this period; keeping the brand alive, so to speak.
But there are other signs that standards are declining. Nothing to do with Mr Evans or the acts who are appearing; but simple things like a confusion over when the show should start (7.30pm on the ticket, 8.00pm on the website), the music playing as you enter the auditorium was extracts from Madame Butterfly (we had that at my mum’s funeral – not very conducive to loosening one’s chuckle muscles), moving from Friday night (carefree) to Sunday night (a school night) and scheduling SBMs so that they clash with big names next door in the main theatre – Milton Jones had a full house in the Derngate at the same time. The audience at last night’s Screaming Blue numbered about 22, which is frankly pitiful; what’s worse is that it was probably the largest audience in there since the move to the Filmhouse.
Screaming Blue Murder has such a fine tradition of providing excellent value, top quality comedy shows that it’s a real shame that it’s suffering in this way. The one thing that would improve the experience would be for more people to attend, so come on, people of Northampton, Your Screaming Blue Needs You! But a return to three comedians would also be an improvement – it’s a standard structure for a comedy show with proven success. Get the basics right, and happy comedy nights will follow! Having said all that, we can’t come to the next show on 13 October, which is a shame because it features the superb Markus Birdman and Jenny Collier, so it will be a riot. But you should!
