Kieran Hodgson is very much appreciated by those who have encountered his work whilst also not yet well known as his talents deserve.
Hopefully his profile will continue to grow as he is a truly engaging and intelligent storyteller with a facility for accents and mimicry as well as being a natural comic writer/performer.
Big in Scotland is his latest piece and in essence is the story of his move to Scotland and his attempts to find his feet in a new country.
Now those who will know him from the BBC sitcom Two Doors Down will be familiar with his character of Gordon and how he is very much a fish out of water in suburban Scotland. This is also true for Kieran who struggles to establish a clear view of his new home and how best to interact with his new colleagues and neighbours.
All of this provides him with a rich vein of material that fills an hour of stage time with moments of comic genius. Whether it is his desire to learn Gaelic to recounting his meeting with former PM Gordon Brown, or having to process lockdown in a city with no friends, he weaves imagination and real life together to reveal a lot about him but also about how Scotland is often just viewed from the perspective of outsiders.
It is thoughtful, intelligent, well constructed comedy that very much feels spot on for an Oxford audience. And the capacity crowd at the North Wall lapped it with enthusiasm just as they might a plate of neeps and tatties at a Burns Night Supper.
It is a gem of a comic set that I could happily revisit on a regular basis. Hodgson is without doubt a product of his Yorkshire and Oxford background but he is also now at home in Scotland. Big in Scotland continues to tour and if you get a chance, please do try to get along. You will smile, think and laugh - a lot!