I didn’t find myself laughing uproariously at Casual Violence. There were some great gags embedded within their sketches, often sly wordplay that creeps in under the radar of the main plot thrust. Unlike most sketch comedy shows that try to pummel you over the head with punchline after punchline, the main feeling experienced was of being strangely compelled by the sketches, rather than being in stitches over them. The slow pacing and attention to character detail, and even pathos, over jokes at times means that this show will definitely not be for everyone. Yet, the slickness, smoothness and crafted nature of the four runner sketches that comprise this hour long show didn’t leave you feeling cold, like other offerings that prioritise technique over flat-out broad comedy.
The sketches are populated by sinister, outsider figures that seem more drawn from the cinema than the stage. A disquieting poppy salesman and the psychotic self-proclaimed head of the Human Defence League against alien invasion, are given plenty of room for black comic stylings, while moments of real character depth focusing on their vulnerability and isolation in their later sketches prevent the tone from slipping into lazy ‘shock’ territory. All of the sketches are given real resonance by the inclusion of onstage pianist Adam D. Felman, whose deft and versatile playing flits from gently teasing out the laughs from onstage dialogue, to making things seem a lot darker and moodier than they would otherwise be. The pinnacle in terms of Casual Violence’s stagecraft is not necessarily their most obvious comic piece. As we watch a broken, defeated, clockwork-operated owner of old-style curiosity shop ‘The Obsoleteum’ gradually ‘wind down’ to nothing, we know we’re in the presence of writers and performers who have aspirations beyond the constraints of sketch comedy.
At times the show felt like watching ‘sketch drama’, rather than sketch comedy. The very fact that this kind of comedy exists, the fact that they give the sketches time to breathe and give their characters time to develop, felt admirably audacious. Though I wasn’t overwhelmed by belly-laughter, and even found some jokes falling flat quite often, the fact that throughout I remained strangely compelled, proves that Casual Violence have made something, whatever it is, that ought to be applauded.
