Fran Moulds: Significant Human Error |
Published on Friday, 17 August 2012 | |||||
It's often in the smaller, more intimate venues that you'll find the best stand-up. With this in mind, I had very high hopes standing outside the Underbelly's Wee Coo auditorium, part of the swollen queue waiting for Fran Moulds: Significant Human Error. Sadly, an hour later I left feeling disappointed. While inventive and at times incredibly funny, the show was far too hit-and-miss, with lengthy periods which were conspicuously laugh-free. Moulds began as she intended to continue, bouncing on stage already in character - her opening cleaning-lady persona giving the room a quick once over. It was a humorous and original start, from which the audience were then presented with an eclectic collection of utterly bizarre characters: from a distinctly socialist Welsh tour guide to a desperately insecure feminist writer, there was even an obnoxious male Australian adrenaline junkie thrown into the mix. The diversity of the characters was impressive, and Moulds certainly took to her different roles with ease. Indeed, so immersive was the performance that it was genuinely difficult to tell if we were ever seeing the real Fran Moulds at all. This is a real shame, as a few helpings of gold ol' standup one-liners would've proved a welcome rest from the disorientating lurch between personas. However, where the performance really lost marks was its inability to fulfil the most elemental goal of comedy - making people laugh. Don't get me wrong, the trivial twittering of a young Muslim "revert" on her YouTube channel, for instance, were quite funny. However, too many of the jokes fell flat, achieving no more than a scattered titter from more benevolent crowd members. And even the gags which started out hilarious - the aforementioned Welsh tour guide's insistence on repeating her spiel in increasingly exotic languages for example - were drawn out too long, and by the time she hit Japanese a groaning boredom seethed from the stalls. It would be a travesty to call Fran Moulds unfunny, as she clearly has the ability to make people laugh (her five sell-out shows at the previous Festivals are surely testament to this fact). And Significant Human Error will entertain in places, with some of her better personas achieving real hilarity. But unfortunately the comedy is just too inconsistent, and the audience's awkward silence all too regular. If you're a fan of entertaining narratives and gentle chuckles then this show may impress; but to those looking for real foot-stamping hysterics, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. |
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FROM OUR ARCHIVES
These are archived reviews of shows from Edinburgh 2012. We keep our archives online as a courtesy to performers, and for readers who'd like to research previous years' reviews.