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Simon Evans has a wonderful line in constructed pomposity, standing out from the crowd with his distinctive well-spoken accent and sharply turned out suits, poking fun at the differences with material that is in the main familiar to anyone who has seen him before but still charming and absolutely guffaw-inspiring. As a complete show, however, it did fall down a little as he jerked from one topic to another with some meandering filler prose and a tendency towards corpsing. Considering this is his home town and how many pals were in the audience he can be forgiven for stepping away from his tightly bound persona all of the time, it just felt a shame as it worked so very well when maintained.

Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, 19 October
Rating:
Peter Austin

Opening with ‘No Wow’ it seemed The Kills may just have had that effect on their fans, leaving us wanting more than just their new material ‘Kissy Kissy’, ‘DNA’ and ‘Satellite’. Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince are known for their rock ‘n’ roll stage antics to counteract that they aren’t the best musicians (only they can use a drum machine and get away with it) but their performance was static, apart from the wind fan in Alison’s face, blowing her hair. Faith was restored with ‘Black Balloon’ and ‘Sour Cherry’. Despite a technical hitch with the machine for ‘Tape Song’, the band were cool enough to continue with their somewhat early and overall disappointing set.

Concorde 2, 14 October
Rating:
Laura Burgess

Yeaaaaaah! Tony Law strode out and immediately had the audience in stitches just by talking about the room. The Old Market is a lovely plush venue, but not built with comedy in mind with a large gap between performer and audience. Not that this slowed Law for a second as he careened from one flight of fancy to another, attacking each surreal subject with charm, verve and energy. The fantastic silliness covered artic explorers, hitchhiking pandas and xenophobia. Asides deconstructing his set would lead to further bizarre genius and we hardly had time to draw breath before another tumultuous rush of laughter. Amazing.

The Old Market, 19 October
Rating:
Jim Holland

What a joy to see Roger McGough’s hand at work with Moliere, he certainly has the measure of him. The script alone for this classic farce is worthy of at least five stars as he plays with the language, both English and French, with masterful style. The company too deserve at least five stars for the way in which they pull off such mannered silliness. Clarity is an essential when delivering drama in verse and barely a word or joke was lost despite the audience roaring with laughter throughout. Particular praise for Emily Pithon as Mariane whose comic antics and gawping gaze often stole the scene. An evening of total delight.

Theatre Royal Brighton, 19 October
Rating:
Andrew Kay