Darius Davies Archives - The Real Chrisparkle

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. It is eleven months since we last attended a mixed bill night at the Charles Bradlaugh – where does the time go?! Fortunately, we chose a stonker of a good night to make our return – and we were joined by a packed house of happy return customers for a truly rip-roaring night of comedy.

Our host was Kelly Convey, whom we haven’t seen since the golden days of Covid, on one of those surprisingly successful Zoom gigs and in the garden of the Black Prince pub. She’s a warm, friendly and ebullient presence who instantly gets the crowd on her side – bless her for thinking that Northampton is classier than Chatham – with engaging stories about attending childbirths and how life has changed since she rapidly became a mother of three. She generated a positive and supportive vibe to the evening’s proceedings which really helped the show go with a bang!

First up, and someone we’ve seen many times before, was the irrepressible Jack Gleadow, an impish presence with a quirky voice and hilarious comedic creativity. For much of the act he responded to musical cues from easily recognised pop tunes; something we’ve seen him do before, but it’s always brilliant – I love how he uses Popcorn to accompany dating app usage, and his observations on how men and women respond differently to swiping are brilliantly revealing. Terrific at engaging with the crowd, he brought two chaps up from the audience, the willingly good sport Paul and the bemused Jamie, for a jolly bum-slapping routine – all I can say is, you had to be there. Wonderfully self-deprecating and quick thinking, he’s always a joy to watch.

Next came Darius Davies, whom we saw headlining a Screaming Blue Murder show a couple of years ago, but with a very different selection of material. Using his Iranian heritage as an appropriately timely introduction to his set, he took us through two cringingly and riotously funny stories. First, when he posed as a woman on a dating app to find out what it’s like for a woman to deal with the kind of comments men dish out; and then a delicious account of revenge served cold after Ryanair were unhelpful and expensive over charging him for a boarding card. Beautifully delivered, with a sting in its tail, he is a master of intelligent comedy presented with a serious message lurking just beneath the surface; and the audience loved him.

Our headliner was, in many respects, the complete opposite, the totally wacky Spencer Jones, whose act is made up of short, seemingly unconnected vignettes, sometimes surreal, sometimes ecstatically funny, always totally ludicrous. There was clearly an element of work-in-progress with many of his ideas being tried out, but we were willing guinea pigs for his daftness. What separates Mr J from many other surreal or absurd performers, is that he makes it clear that he knows what he’s doing is absurd and recognises that we find it absurd too, but he’ll nevertheless continue doing it. Our favourite short sketch was the totally pointless but completely recognisable “man with three beers”; I also enjoyed his “may I taste your soup” routine, especially as I unfortunately made a bit of a song-and-dance over describing the ingredients in my vegetable soup to him. Not all of his ideas worked completely, but those which did, were hysterical.

The next Comedy Crate at the Bradlaugh night is May 14^th – we can’t make it but hopefully you can. And it definitely won’t be another eleven months till we make a reappearance!

In the last of the Screaming Blue Murders to be held in the Royal theatre (for a while at least), our indefatigable MC Dan Evans held court as usual over a grateful Northampton audience, getting to know those foolish enough to book Rows A or B. This included the Abington nurse who was out for a good time no matter what, the threateningly tattooed Liam and the splendidly named Harrison who described himself as a “stay-at-home son” – good line, that. We also discovered from the man sat directly in front of me that a pair of ordinary Cheaney shoes will start at around £400. Of course we talked shoes. This is Northampton!

First up, and someone we’ve seen twice before, it was the unpredictable silliness of Paul F Taylor, a naturally funny guy who treads a fine line between the surreal and the stupid; a tactic which can pay off fantastically well sometimes, but occasionally might miss the mark. He gave us his excellent routine about how one of our hands is a reliable type and the other is a useless hanger-on; and I really loved his imagining of how dogs got the worst end of being domesticated pets in comparison to cats, and it’s all down to the expert legal team the cats hired. An unexpected heckle sent him slightly off course, but he ended up with an intricate mime routine which at times I found too difficult to follow, and at others all too easy; you had to see it to believe it. A truly inventive comedy brain, it didn’t entirely go to plan but the bits that did, were brilliant.

Next, and in a change to the scheduled line-up, came Kate Lucas, blessed with a voice that’s all sweetness and light, with a guitar that she’s not afraid to use. We’ve also seen Kate twice before and she never fails to mine good belly laughs from her unexpectedly savage lyrics delivered to gentle folky tunes. It’s amazing quite how bitter and vengeful a tone you can adopt whilst playing what is essentially a lullaby. I remembered a couple of these songs from her previous visits to Northampton – including when she was Tez Ilyas’ support act – but if you haven’t seen her before she’s an absolute treat.

Our headliner, and new to us, was Darius Davies; a confident, edgy performer full of attack and presence, and not afraid to stir some hornets’ nests on stage. Intelligence and a quick wit such as Mr D possesses usually put an audience at ease in the knowledge that they’re going to have a good time. But Mr D challenges us with tricky routines, like getting us all to call out Allahu Akbar, or referring to a section of the audience as autistic; boldly tackling racism and prejudice where angels fear to tread. More than once he really took us out of our comfort zone, and rather like Mr Taylor at the beginning of the evening, some of his material landed on fertile soil and some on stony ground. But he has a very winning way about him and commands great interaction with the audience. Maybe the formal setting of the Royal Theatre isn’t quite the right environment for his act; but it was very enjoyable nonetheless.

Next show is on June 16^th in the luxurious surroundings of Screen 2 of the Filmhouse; and a sensational line-up is promised! There’s still time to bag some excellent seats, so don’t delay!