To Rectory Road on Thursday evening for the June performance of the Wivenhoe Funny Farm at the Cricket Club. I’ve seen many comedy performances take place out on a cricket square, but never inside a cricket pavilion. I like to think that in a parallel universe, there is an Ashes series being contested within a backstreet comedy club.
The pavilion at Rectory Road is the perfect fit for the Wivenhoe Funny Farm. Arriving fashionably late, @AnnaJCowen and I were guided to our reserved seats (natch) right on the front row.
It wasn’t so much best seats in the house (although they were rather decent) but a seating arrangement that allowed you to count the comedy wrinkle lines underneath the eyelids of each performer.
Many comedians have metaphorically died on stage, and if this was to be the case at the Funny Farm, my front seat position had me well placed to be the undertaker. Or even the assassin.
The atmosphere inside the Funny Farm was lively, but friendly enough so as to not encourage the boozed up comedy heckling bores that have come to characterise the London circuit.
You’ve got be pretty cock sure of yourself to take on a pro. I thought of the perfect riposte to one particular gag, albeit twelve hours later at the start of the working day. The momentum had been lost somewhat.
@HazelFunnyFarm was of course the fine compare for the evening. Taking time out from Wivenhoe Panto script duties / comedy workshops / the general business of paying the bills - Hazel was on fine form.
She needed to be, given that the golden rule of comedy bookings had just been broken: never allow your three comedians to travel in the same car up from London.
Whoops.
With a prompt 8:30 start necessary to keep the show on the road, Hazel took to the stage / darts oche, and opened up the Funny Farm. It was an incredibly brave move, speaking for what could have been five minutes, or equally it could have stretched out to half an hour.
With one eye on the clock and one eye on the front door awaiting the comedy roadshow of the comedians in a car, Hazel effortlessly made light fun of the May Fair (“Tye Die Hard“) the Co-op and poetrywivenhoe.
The joke was on the host for the latter, having just picked up the distinction of a merit award in the poetrywivenhoe annual poetry competition. The first public reading of the anti-poetry piece then took place.
And then just when it looked like this might be an epic effort where one woman keeps the show on the road for a Springsteen style three hour set, the Rectory Road pavilion doors opened and the headcount of comedians quadrupled.
Hurrah!
This was something of a slightly different Funny Farm evening with two joint headliners warming up for their imminent Edinburgh fringe performances.
Juliet Meyers’ I’m Not Spartacus show made the transition instantly from out of the back of the car to the front of the stage at the Cricket Club. The raw and slightly chaotic preparation fitted the jokes perfectly.
I’m Not Spartacus addresses themes connected with political apathy, despite an inner will to change the world. It also fitted the Wivenhoe lifestyle rather well.
Some splendid confusion was added to the conclusion, with an audience re-enactment of a Spartacus theme involving a couple of Wivenhoe locals, a strong Yorkshire accent and a sex analogy featuring snails and oysters.
Follow that, Edinburgh.
A quick beer break, and I soon became aware as to why I am a man of blogs, rather than gags. Finding myself at the urinal next to a very senior member of Wivenhoe Town Council, my observation of “so this is where all the big knobs hang out” had the predictable p*** poor reaction.
Whoops.
Now wash your hands.
David Hannant then showcased a short set, reflecting on life in Devon and life in South London. Somewhere in-between the culture clash is probably Wivenhoe.
The final performance for the evening was from Liam Mullone, trying out ideas for his own Down to the Bone Edinburgh show. Social class observations, the history of religion as told through the life cycle of a teenager and condom jokes - all correct and present.
This was a very welcoming Wivenhoe audience, grateful of the time and effort from the performers to come to our town to preview their Edinburgh performances.
Recordings were made for Radio Wivenhoe - I’m rightfully respecting the wishes of the Funny Farm in sending them on to the promoters first, before publishing here.
Plus edits are required for profanity - **** yeah.
The next Funny Farm takes place on 21st July, as ever at the Cricket Club along Rectory Road. For a town that thankfully doesn’t take itself too seriously, there is plenty to laugh about.