Before the curtain goes up on one of the most whispered about shows at the Fringe, The Boy with Tape on His Face looks at his already delighted audience with wide eyes and what must be a knowing smile behind that big black tape. They are already in the palm of his hand.
More Tape is the physical comedy maverick’s second venture after the knockout success that took him to the The Royal Variety Performance, BBC2’s Comedy Prom and BBC3’s Live at the Fringe. The show is devised from a mixture of mime, stand-up and drama, with absolutely no words and more than a touch of magic. Since movie style sets and special effects entered into the world of theatre, the stage has forgotten the power of the imagination; The Boy has it in abundance and by going back to basics, has pushed comedy beyond the limits of fancy tech.
Of course, there wouldn’t be a show at all if The Boy didn’t have someone to play with. He bounds through the fourth wall at break neck speed, blue eyes frantically searching for someone to join in the fun. It appears that a man of no words really is the definition of a charmer, or it could be that no one dare refuse his offer. For fear of ‘looking like a cock’, a severe warning given at the beginning of the show to those who don’t play along, victims slope off through the wall but always come back beaming.
The Boy is resounding proof that some things are better left unsaid. Besides, he doesn’t need to make any noise; it’s done for him by the audiences who fizz with delight from start to finish and by a media trying to make sense of the magic. When you see it, you won’t be able to keep quiet about it.
