Summerhall, Edinburgh
Connor Dariol, AKA Australian clown Conk, does exactly what he claims – and with such skill and relentless pep we are helpless to resist
When I saw the title to the Australian clown Conk’s show Man Sings the Same Song Over and Over Again for an Hour, I thought I knew what the trick would be. Yes, the terms of the show’s billing would be fulfilled, but (I imagined) by twisting whatever that song was into a diverting variety of new shapes – rather as the comedy trio Sheeps did when performing the same sketch repeatedly for an hour way back in 2014.
More fool me, for doubting that Conk – AKA Connor Dariol – would keep things as ruthlessly simple as his Ronseal title suggests. He really does sing the same song over and again, with the same backing track and surprisingly little embellishment, for 60 minutes – with a bloody great clock marking the limits of your endurance on an upstage screen. And wait until you hear what song it is! Its opening chords are greeted by an aghast laugh from the audience. Reader, this experience felt like an endurance test before that song had reached the end of its first cycle.
At Summerhall, Edinburgh, until 31 August
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