Daylight Savings for the Doomsday Clock (FringeTIX)
Dave Callan @ Fringe Factory (The Tea Room)
9:00pm, Sat 23 Feb 2008
I saw Dave Callan’s show last year. I wasn’t greatly impressed by it – I thought the mechanism of delivery (all high-tech with DVD gubbins and computer trickery wot the kids are into these days) had potential, but the show itself… well, I said “disappointed” then, but… it shit me to tears.
So quite why I bunged this on the shortlist I don’t quite know. Maybe I subconsciously thought that maybe, with the right material, Callan could use similar techniques to deliver a stunning show. After all, I saw Greg Fleet year after year, waiting for him to deliver the performance that matched his true potential.
This isn’t that show.
Callan opens up with a bit of standard standup – lovely manner, all very competent, no new ground tread there (with “your city is so weird”-type material), and he leans on some multimedia support for his citizenship test. And there’s a genuinely funny moment when he points to someone in the audience and asks “you, sir, can you come to the stage?” and a high-pitched, ultra-feminine voice calls back “who, me?”
But then the “actual” content of the show starts – and Dave’s concerned with the Doomsday Clock (oh look, that Wikipedia page contains a wodge of the images Callan used). And so the impending death of the human race acts as a cornerstone for Callan’s rants on consumerism (bottled water and gossip mags cop a bashing), war, the media, fundamentalists… all the usual suspects. And it’s delivered with an uneasy mix of laughs, slideshows, and video, that winds up running 25 minutes long – which is about 70 minutes too much Callan for me.
Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m not against the message. But there’s nothing new here – even the most sheltered dullard would be aware of 99% of the information presented here, and – even if they weren’t – they’re hardly likely to be at this show. “But Pete,” you argue, “surely if just one person learns something new, something important, and carries that seed of information with them and disseminates it, surely that justifies this dull and monotonous show that seems to be a bunch of snippets just jammed together to suit the admittedly cool title of the piece?”
And to that, I’d say: Lordy – you think a lot like me. But there’s no reason for me to be there. I learnt nothing new and, whilst I find Callan’s “stand-up” presence to be pleasant, his delivery of his “serious” information left an icky taste in my mouth. Never again, I say, no matter how cool the title and blurb are.