This show will make you leave the theatre trembling. The five piece Oompah band blows you away in the confined space of the GRV venue. The great sound takes the seat from under you, making the heat downright bearable. This is a stand up comedy backed by a brass band that will make you laugh and astound you. The music imposes upon you and wonderful jokes at that much needed punch bag, the financiers, makes this a great afternoon show. Max Klein, a failed financier with a flagrantly poor but somehow convincing German accent, tells the comic story of his life in the banking sector. He rises up management ladder as all did, through greed and stealing ideas, describing the unfathomably cruel world of the sector and its many .many flaws. Eventually he reaches the economic collapse and here he puts an extra use to the Oompah band. The Trumpets represent the sub-prime mortgage sector, the French horn plays as Lehman brothers and the Trombone enacts corporate debt. One by one they sell their instruments and file for insolvency in the domino collapse of the banks. And for once, at last, I understand the economic collapse, more than I did before at any rate. This show is on for everyone who is sick of the vagaries and poor explanations we are fed by the banks. The band plays to compliment the stand up act, adapting brilliantly chosen songs immaculately to the impressive sound of the band. Toxic is played when the dodgy debts are realised, Livin on a Prayer for the unfeasible growth of the banks and other well placed songs to great comic effect. The plot of the show descends gradually into mayhem, the great comedy styling of Charlie Talbot becoming a happy bastardisation of German heritage and marvelling at the overpowering strength of the band. Characters from the band emerge and interact wonderfully, the chemistry between the six on-stage proving as potent as the music itself. The sheer happiness of the music contracts well with the comically depressing revelations on the true state of the economy, how it was managed poorly and ultimately trashed. The future may be bleak, but this joyous act makes it all considerably easier to deal with.
