Writer, musician and actor, Waen Shepherd presents his 3rd show as 1980s misunderstood musical genius, Gary Le Strange. The show is billed as time to meet the real Gary behind the mask, in his third Edinburgh outing after winning the Perrier Newcomer award for Polaroid Suitcase in 2003.
This year Gary is going through a crisis. After a year at the Fairdale Creative Commune, he has abandoned the synth pop and fallen under the influence of prog rock, poetry, painting classes and meat. In a show that combines songs, monologues about his cruel upbringing and even his own answer to Harry Potter, we are taken deep into the dark recesses of Garys mind. As you can imagine, this is not all laughs, though the lyrical skill of the songs is excellent a particular favourite being the title song Beef Scarecrow in a field of rusty hammers.
The strangest thing about the show was the audience. While it is true that you might question whether this years offering is more theatre than comedy, it was pretty much as billed. So it was surprising to see a large proportion of the audience leave before the end of the show. Maybe they thought that they had come for some stand up, maybe they never had to listen to Genesis and Marillion as a teenager, or perhaps they thought that Gary really was eating cat food
This is a show full of interesting ideas, though those seeking stand up or a Human League take off should look elsewhere.
