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Russell Kane: Right Man, Wrong Age at the Assembly Hall Theatre Review

RussellKaneRussell Kane
Right Man, Wrong Age
Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells

17 September 2016

www.assemblyhalltheatre.co.uk

Reviewed by Emma Salmon

Russell Kane has grown up!

Gone are the skinny keks, the skyscraper bleach streaked hairdo, the skin tight t-shirts, the 6 day Ibiza benders, the drugs, the booze, the birds. The man’s in a SUIT for God’s sake – what would they think of that back in Essex??? But despite this monumental turnaround, it’s still the Kane we know underneath it all – still neurotic, still pirouetting round the stage, still caught in the angst between man and boy, father and son.

Father and son scores high on the routine – his father’s presence still looms heavy as ever in his set – the hard man of Essex perpetually disappointed by his camp, cavorting son – although at least we get to learn the origins of Russell’s family nickname of ‘gaytan’ and the story of when his own literary prowess was hurled back at him in the worst insult ever. But now Kane has a child of his own – he has been saved from his own self-induced reverse adolescent nervous breakdown by the love of a laid back Mancurian wife – the exact polar opposite of himself, who metaphorically shook him by the wotsits, told him what to do, and sent him on the path to adulthood.

Because Russell is a dad now. The first half of the show sets the scene for his fatherhood transformation, filling in the background of his early days, and revealing the truth about why we never feel the age we are supposed to be – be that 16 wishing we were older, or 70 looking back in highly edited nostalgia at the young – it’s always the wrong age. Picking audience members to highlight these truths (God bless Dan the skip man) he leads us to the point where he became a man, where suddenly life got serious.

It would be easy to get clichéd about fatherhood – many a comedian of a certain age has done the sleepless nights and the cutesy toddler observations, but Russell has taken a different view, revealing the stuff of nightmares, the things going through a man’s head that are never said out loud for fear of female reprisal and a truly disturbing image forever etched on his brain during an emotional daddy and baby bath time.

Always fast paced, always funny, juxtaposed between camp Essex boy and serious Thesp’, this new show demonstrates that Kane may have grown up, but he hasn’t lost any of the sharp talent that won him those ‘award thingies’ he refers to.

Catch him if you can.

Rating: 5/5 thumbs_up

Russell Kane is currently touring the UK with Right Man, Wrong Age, for more information and tour dates visit www.russellkane.co.uk.

For other shows at the Assembly Hall Theatre visit www.assemblyhalltheatre.co.uk.

Assembly Hall Theatre, Crescent Rd, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2LU | 01892 530613

5Star

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