Review - Sean Hughes, Stafford Gatehouse Theatre March 14
WHILE MANY offspring took their mums to dinner or garden displays for Mother’s Day a trip to the Gatehouse to hear Sean Hughes’ “evil thoughts” was the unusual choice of some.
Sean’s humour isn’t particularly family friendly (for a start he has no wife or kids, but he does have Sky Plus “so it’s swings and roundabouts”) but parents and their grown-up sons and daughters found plenty to chuckle about.
He made his Perrier Award-winning Edinburgh Fringe debut in 1990, six years before one 14-year-old audience member (who he kept entertained with sweets) was even born.
But the Irish funnyman’s latest material is so current it includes observations of news from local papers across the country including this week’s Newsletter.
Your humble reviewer’s squirming soon stopped however as Sean began his kitchen sink observations of the perils of ageing and the world around him.
Forty-something Sean’s world is increasingly threatened by elasticated trousers and involuntary early rises so early that news hasn’t happened yet and the birds have to be yelled at to start their dawn chorus.
The spiky self-depreciation is also tinged with a delightfully surreal edge that includes the suggestion of handing Wayne Rooney a copy of Albert Camus’ The Outsider instead of champagne next time he is named Man of the Match.
Add some living tips with an unsavoury edge (such as pretending your friends’ embarrassing secrets have been broadcast on speakerphone) and a colourful recollection of childhood and you have an enjoyable Sunday night out – and a curious wondering if Stafford’s news might be coming soon to a stage somewhere else in the country.
