Comedy review: Lords of Strut

Half Moon Theatre, Cork

Playing the fame game is the theme of Chaos, the new show by comedic double act, the Lords of Strut. Best known for their dance routines and impressive acrobatic manoeuvres, their latest show has a narrative structure.

Directed by Pat Kiernan, it combines slapstick and acrobatics with parody. It’s got shades of classic double acts such as Laurel and Hardy with Cian Kinsella playing the gormless Sean Fantastic while Cormac Mollally plays Famous Seamus, a larger than life character who thinks he’s an operator.

Utterly smarmy and self-seeking, Famous Seamus makes a song and dance of praising the audience. “You’re a beautiful bunch of people,” he says, grinning insincerely. He wants more than 15 minutes of fame and sees the audience as the means of helping him and his brother to make it into the stratosphere of famous entertainers.

The show has peaks and troughs, sometimes being so corny and banal that you wonder why the audience is creased with laughter. A rendition of a Kiss song at the start of the show goes on for too long; it’s simply not that funny.

Famous Seamus indulges in a bit of reflection saying he wasn’t always a success, describing himself as having been an under achiever. This is as deep as he gets.

On a couch being interviewed by a chat show host, plucked from the audience, Famous Seamus parodies the television genre, coming out with amusing lines such as “I think I’ve now become my destiny’, and ‘There’s nothing behind this facade’.

The underwhelmed host goes through the motions, reading the questions from a clip board. Sean Fantastic is unable to play the game, being too honest and lacking media savvy. He draws attention to the couch starting to sag — a bit like an ego being deflated.

A literal character, Sean Fantastic is the antithesis of the modern celebrity in this crazy show. It has highs and lows but the audience loved it.