The tragic thing about Paul Harry Allen’s show is that the concept is excellent; Allen has based his performance around bizarre things he picks up in charity shops, including many hilariously dated records. The actual eye he has for these items and their potential for comedy is apparent, but when it comes to presenting the objects themselves, he has very little in the way of humour. Many of the explanations are repeated with Allen simply changing the apparent punch line; he appears to think the humour in the objects will sell themselves. Whilst playing the most dubious moments from the records, I longed for Allen to use these as a starting point for his own humour; sadly, they were still a crutch.

Laughing Horse at Finnegan’s Wake, 13 – 27 Aug (not 14, 21), free, fpp156.
tw rating 2/5
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