‘Most marriages are held together by white wine and antidepressants.’
Dan and Emma seem to be living the modern American dream with Bill and Margie, but under the gleaming façade infidelity, drug addiction and financial woes are bubbling. Can a homemade pipe-cleaner marionette and a radical career change have the answer?
Patrick Nash dives into the flipside of the flash, stressful Silicon Valley culture with this dark drama that forces both the characters and audience to confront their deepest secrets and fears. The wives gossip at yoga and snipe at drunken house parties, while the men tiptoe awkwardly around unspoken truths until, in Dan’s case, they fester into anger. The titular Funny Guy steps into the fray, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy and doling out harsh judgements.
The dialogue was snappy and blackly funny; for instance, Dan’s description of the ‘Money Maker’ women-only finance app was a painfully accurate snapshot of the ‘techbro’ innovations that plague modern life. Jud Meyers was compelling as Dan, holding the audience’s attention from his opening monologue, and paired perfectly with Jesse Tendler’s awkward, geeky Bill. Karen Genaro Dosanjh’s world-weary Emma and Clara Francesca’s duplicitous Margie also had great chemistry together.
Undoubtedly, the real star of the show- and its big selling point – is the seven-foot-tall puppet of Funny Guy himself, stalking Dan like a neon Mephistopheles and pulling out his innermost secrets. His scenes really were striking, and my colleague even got singled out for interrogation in a moment of audience interaction. As a technology neon is seldom seen with the advent of LEDs, so to see it used so imaginatively in the Royal Society building where the element may have been discovered was quite a treat.
The guest MC slot was a great idea, giving a different Fringe act each day a chance to promote their show afterwards. Nash has created a real theatrical gem – go and see it while the neon still flows.
****
Funny Guy is at Greenside George Street, 2-10, 12-17, 19-24 Aug