Based on private confessions made by the audience prior to the show, this improvised comedy by The Maydays offered some hilarious moments: on the spot, they produced sketches and musical numbers on themes such as masturbation and turds-that-won’t-flush.
There was certainly a thrill in seeing your confession read out on stage and spontaneously recreated; of course, I pretended to my plus-1 that mine must have been neglected at the bottom of the bag.
Admittedly, the performance was jilted at times, as sketches fizzled out rather than climaxed, and lyrics were repeated for want of a better rhyme; but this is excusable given the nature of improvised comedy, and it remains true that – on the whole – it was an extremely impressive and fluid production.
In fact, at times, it was incredible to remember that the show was improvised, since many of the jokes were worthy of direct entry into a comedy script. Certainly, the audience were loving what they were watching, and – with the exception of one rowdy, drunken woman shouting sexual obscenities at one of the performers – they maintained a good rapport with The Maydays themselves.
The group of four were imbalanced in terms of comic ability, but this too is to be expected given the inevitability of a sliding scale; while one remained consistent, pleasing the audience at every utterance, another faded into relative obscurity.
These are talented comedians, though, and they managed to create running jokes – comic motifs, if you like – that were specific to that night’s performance. This made it seem like a unique act, never to be replicated; independent rather than mass-produced.
In spite of the slip-ups, then, Confessions! comes highly recommended. To repeat something pithily put on their website, ‘They’re funny, confident, imaginative, charming and not afraid of making themselves look ridiculous. They will turn your secrets and stories into something to make you laugh your socks off. Go see them if you can.’’
By Joshua Feldman
