Becoming an established part of the Edinburgh fringe festival is no easy feat, but Tim FitzHigham secures himself immensely with his latest offering, Stop The Pigeon. As a first timer, I didn’t quite know what to expect, but what I was presented with was some of the most refreshing stand up and entertainment I have seen in quite some time.
FitzHigham strikes me as a pure English gent, so much so I wanted to sew corduroy patches on the elbows of my jacket quicker than you could say Harris Tweed. This chap oozes Great British charm the moment he begins to regale his tale and you become putty in his hands.
Instead of using any stereotypical form of comedy, Tim engrossed us with his hunger and love for 18th century betting and gambles. Without giving too much away, we are introduced to the Duke of Queensbury and a specific - and insane - bet that took place all those years ago. For the sole purpose of creating his show, Fitzhighman has taken it upon himself to rise to the challenge of said bet but only using what was available at that time, thus giving us the delightful and wondrous story of Stop The Pigeon.
The uniqueness of this show is not just found in the hilarious and enigmatic charisma FitzHighman possesses, but also in the content of his material and how much time he has devoted to completing his endeavours.
Telling his story aided by slides, photographs and video, the audience were gripped by the seat of their pants, bent double with hysterical laughter, gasping for air as they hung off every slick and intelligent word that fell from the silver tongued storyteller’s mouth. Following each twist, turn and dead end in his adventure, the audience were scrunched up with anticipation, desperate to know the outcome, my life depended on it. Did he succeed?
That would be telling, but go see this impresario at work and savour every moment you can until someone from the BBC wakes up and throws a TV contract his way.Tim Fitzhigham is a courageous and somewhat crazy chap who invests his life into his performance. I urge you to invest in him.
