May 16, 2010
As always, the multi-talented wordsmith John Hegley exceeded all my expectations when he performed at the Playhouse last Friday evening. There is never any big build up before he appears on stage, Hegley just strides on; reaches for his ukulele and he’s off, head first into a song. Although he often performs alone, this time he was accompanied by Keith Moore, an excellent double-bass-player and Harry Hill lookalike. Moore smiled all night and looked like a man who loved his job – in direct contrast to Hegley – who scowls over his glasses on a regular basis and often seems like a rather tetchy English teacher, waiting for his tardy class to catch up.
The main theme of the evening was Hegley’s connection with France. His father was French but he deliberately hid his “Frenchness” whilst living in England and became very Anglicized, only reverting to his mother-tongue when his own mother came to visit him in the UK. I don’t know whether any of the anecdotes were embellished, but that doesn’t matter; it made for an evening of great entertainment.
Hegley is brilliant at encouraging audience participation in his act; this is no mean feat in cerebral Oxford, where the audiences often seem reluctant to join in with any silliness. Perhaps he manages to pull this off because he doesn’t waste time in negotiation, he just tells the audience what to do, and it does it. We were divided into three sections and Hegley rehearsed our lines with us, most of us got them wrong, and we were rewarded with one of his trademark withering looks – we were such a disappointment to him!
Another highlight was when he involved a member of the audience in simultaneous translation of his French poetry. I presume she was a member of the audience and not a plant – he’s probably on fairly safe ground expecting to find a fluent French speaker in the audience in Oxford, I’m not so sure he would be as lucky in my home town of Bradford.
Spectacle wearers were in for an unexpected treat at the end of the show. Throughout the evening he made frequent reference to them and at the end everyone wearing glasses was invited down to the front to join him and dance to Tom Jones’s “It’s not unusual”. What a brilliant finale; I cursed myself for wearing my contact lenses.
The main theme of the evening was Hegley’s connection with France. His father was French but he deliberately hid his “Frenchness” whilst living in England and became very Anglicized, only reverting to his mother-tongue when his own mother came to visit him in the UK. I don’t know whether any of the anecdotes were embellished, but that doesn’t matter; it made for an evening of great entertainment.
Hegley is brilliant at encouraging audience participation in his act; this is no mean feat in cerebral Oxford, where the audiences often seem reluctant to join in with any silliness. Perhaps he manages to pull this off because he doesn’t waste time in negotiation, he just tells the audience what to do, and it does it. We were divided into three sections and Hegley rehearsed our lines with us, most of us got them wrong, and we were rewarded with one of his trademark withering looks – we were such a disappointment to him!
Another highlight was when he involved a member of the audience in simultaneous translation of his French poetry. I presume she was a member of the audience and not a plant – he’s probably on fairly safe ground expecting to find a fluent French speaker in the audience in Oxford, I’m not so sure he would be as lucky in my home town of Bradford.
Spectacle wearers were in for an unexpected treat at the end of the show. Throughout the evening he made frequent reference to them and at the end everyone wearing glasses was invited down to the front to join him and dance to Tom Jones’s “It’s not unusual”. What a brilliant finale; I cursed myself for wearing my contact lenses.