Friends of Peterhouse Theatre
Friday 21 - Sunday 23 November

Four Stars

"Love is like a rollercoaster", expounded Professor Enoch Toffee, setting the tone for the evening: "there's a weight restriction, but if you're over 4"6 it doesn't matter how old you are". If you found one of the more printable jokes amusing, then Tragedy Circus will probably be your thing; if not, I would probably give it a miss. Simple really.

Unfortunately though, my editor tells me that reviews have to be 400 words long, so if you've already made up your mind, I'll have to give you  some details. Written in a day, after Peterhouse Theatre became available thanks to a cancelled opera (which really is a tragedy), it is perhaps unsurprising that the play is little more than an hour of stand-up from the excellent Freddy Syborn. It is hard to reconcile the purpose, which is allegedly an exploration of the concept of tragedy, with more risqué statements like "Ian Paisley is a f******* paedophile".

The plot is of a similar nature. Our aforementioned anti-hero guides us through a dizzying array of rape, murder, coprophilia, incest, and generally material that would make Bernard Manning blush. And that's just the first fifteen minutes. Clearly, the twenty or so guffawing Petreans loved this almost as much as the number of bizarre montages projected onto a screen throughout, presumably involving members of the college.

Nevertheless, the setting - the old University Museum of Classical Archaeology lecture theatre - is a nice, if slightly coincidental touch: the play takes the form of a lecture, and upon arrival, each audience member is presented with a handout, including a reproduction of The Bee Gees' Tragedy, and a cancelled Prophet Mohammed cartoon competition. Didn't see either of those coming.

What was apparent from the start was Syborn's talent for observation. Toffee's mannerisms are eerily accurate (indeed, lectures with a certain theology professor will now be much harder to concentrate in), and his comic timing impeccable. After the success of A Beast for Thee, and the potential shown here, Syborn is clearly one to watch, both as an actor and writer.

It is then, difficult to summarise Tragedy Circus, a play that is both predictable and shocking, hilarious and in parts unfunny, and most definitely consistently puerile. The absence of structure can be explained by the relatively short time involved in its conception, and it is easy to see why in a more nuanced production, Syborn has garnered such good reviews. Regardless of this, it is perhaps indicative of my own sense of humour that I actually quite enjoyed it.

Alastair Pal