Comedy: Just good friends

Sometimes, it’s not just the people on the stage that have created the comedy.

Everyone knows that behind every great film or powerful play, there’s a talented director who has a vision. Yes, there’s the writer, the performer(s), the face of the thing – but it’s that perspective from the behind the fourth wall that can prove utterly invaluable.
It’s a little known thing that comedy shows can also involve a director’s contribution. When you think about it it certainly makes sense, with the amount of sketch shows, improvisation troupes, as well as comic plays, plus some stand-up performances that clearly benefit from a perspective that hasn’t written every single word. A director’s input can help untangle a melee of ideas into a bouquet of conceptual bounty. It can be brutal, and it can also help celebrate the real gems of a piece.

On Sunday the multi-award nominated comedy duo Max & Ivan are coming to town with their brand new show, perversely called ‘The End’. These are the brains that came up with the legendary ‘The Wrestling’ in the Edinburgh Fringe twice, gathering a Who’s Who of comedy talent together to roughly follow a linear evening of wrestling matches pairing comedians with actual British wrestlers, along with ringside commentary, old skool grudges developing, as well as peril and absolutely marvellous resolution. They put that together – which was epic, with only minor performing roles for themselves. This is their show, and with its own fabulous twisting and turning, plotting and conniving, leaps and lurches. And as such, they are the stars – and they’ve got someone else to direct them.

Tom Parry, aka one third of acclaimed sketch group Pappy’s, is taking up directing duties for Max & Ivan in this instance. ‘The End’ is an epic tale of a small town on the day of its destruction, which is a concept that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Pappy’s longform show either.
It’s good to have friends. It’s professionally useful to have friends who understand the field you work in of performance comedy and can collaborate to make good things become brilliant.
Max & Ivan – The End, Sunday 2 August, 8pm, £10, Studio Theatre, Brighton Dome, 01273 709709, www.brightondome.org