This trio’s cutesy introduction, complete with Velcro and cardboard cut-out numbers, was charming. Dan Curtis, wide-eyed, lanky blonde, began in a dead-pan sulk and immediately stood out as the guerniest of ‘Making Faces’. Think blonde Jim Carey with eyes like a Chihuahua.
This show is a bucket-list full of laughs.
The audience were brave. Going to a show of this title, at 3’o’clock on a sunny Saturday afternoon, they’d surely thought this through. The tiny, low-lit theatre is comfily intimate with its red-brick fire place occupying centre stage. The actors really made the stage pop. From ‘dance like no-one’s watching’ to ‘speak your mind’, the bucket-list tasks were played out energetically; roller-blades, tassels and kneecaps skimming front-row noses.
Lizzie Kevan really came into her own as vintage-bike-girl. In yet another spontaneous song (on cycling), she donned a mustard dress and tattered bike-basket. The simpering, sickly sweet smile was her trade-mark face for the show.
Meanwhile, Ed Mayhew showed himself to be the musical talent, pulling the guitar strap over his hi-vis and helmet. After Ed turned up for the third or fourth time in an ill-fitting cardigan, it became clear he’d been assigned the ‘nice-guy’ role. Rid of the cardigan, he might have released his inner nutcase. The other two face-makers seemed to revel in behaving as oddly as possible, pouring dried beans over their heads or repeatedly screaming at a playing card.
Moments of improbable improvisation were sprinkled throughout the performance, Dan’s slip-ups in his roller blades being one. They were nonetheless hilarious. Spontaneous improv was similarly skilful. During the ‘see a magic show’ act, Ed could just be seen whispering to Dan for more time, while he finished sticking a card to his forehead. Unfazed, Dan screamed at his playing card some more. The group saved the mocking-the-middle-class ‘wear a gilet’ song for last; the audience clapping to the beat and watching the unabashed trio gyrate in their gilets. This show is a bucket-list full of laughs.
