ELVIS MCGONAGALL: GIN & CATATONIC? at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
★★★★★
“like all good whiskies, McGonagall’s lines slip down smoothly with just the right amount of burn”
The fabulous tartan-jacketed Elvis McGonagall is holding forth at the Patter House for this year’s Festival Fringe, and you do not want to miss his latest show, Gin & Catatonic?. For sixty minutes, you can relax from the Fringe mayhem outside the Gilded Balloon as this wannabe Laureate delivers poems on a great variety of subjects. A veteran of innumerable poetry slams, McGonagall is never short of inspired invention. He’s also a well-read man, and the way he puts together the comedy, with more serious subject matter, provokes both laughter and moments that make you go “hmmm”, when you remember them on the bus home.
Much of the material takes the form of rants against well known politicians, but since McGonagall is a poet, these rants have to rhyme. This works well for poems about the King’s latest speech, promising better times for working class folk. Rhyming “nouveau riche” with “quiche” would make any king’s speechwriter wish she or he, had thought of that one first. Brexit is also up for merciless lampooning of course, and the metaphors are as richly inventive as the lies we were told to “get Brexit done.” A poem inspired by the late Adrian Mitchell entitled “Sorry ‘bout that” sums up McGonagall’s thoughts on one prime minister in particular. And it’s not just the ingenious poems, but the memorable one-liners that emerge like the finest of single malts. Once our poet gets warmed up, quips like “a Goldman Sachs glove puppet that shrunk in the wash” emerge with speed and precision. And like all good whiskies, McGonagall’s lines slip down smoothly with just the right amount of burn.
Mixed up with the political satire are nods to Brecht (“The Resistible Rise of the Milkshake Martyr”) and Evita, all shaken together in a combustible commentary on a certain newly elected politician with ultra right wing views. When you tire of politics, though, McGonagall is happy to reminiscence about the good old days during lockdown, relaxing with his rescue cats. They are just as opinionated as he is, apparently. Gin & Catatonic? is a delightfully put together show that isn’t your standard stand up, and is much more than a poetry reading.
Gin & Catatonic? offers comfort for lingering epidemics, unwanted substitutions in your online supermarket list, and thoughtful suggestions for a new national anthem. Enjoy!
ELVIS MCGONAGALL: GIN & CATATONIC? at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – Gilded Balloon Patter House
Reviewed 4th August 2024
by Dominica Plummer
ELVIS MCGONAGALL
ELVIS MCGONAGALL
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