After a string of solo theatre shows, a new Daniel Kitson standup set is a major event for comedy fans. But is that what Kitson has delivered? Something Other Than Everything is a tightly scripted, technically ambitious piece that blurs the line between standup and theatrical monologue. Whether that’s to be welcomed is hard to judge from opening night, when Kitson repeatedly forgets his lines and confuses his technical cues. A planned 100-minute show sprawls to over two hours. The man’s brilliance is freely on display – but this performance tests the patience.
It can feel as if Kitson has crammed in every standup-worthy observation he’s made in the years since his last comedy show. He’s got too much to say, but recurring themes emerge – our responsibilities to one another; the downsides of progress; the complexities of liberal guilt. “There’s no right thing to do,” Kitson laments, “and no excuse for doing nothing.”
Four strands of his roving monologue interweave, concerning a charitable encounter with a rough sleeper, the adoption of the safety pin as an anti-racist badge after the Brexit vote, an act of generosity in a restaurant queue – and sheep farming on the Scottish island of North Ronaldsay.
This being Kitson, beautifully crafted line (removing gender bias from language is “like trying to get salt out of soup with a sieve made of salt”) follows beautifully crafted line, on which our host frequently congratulates himself. But there’s minimal effort (as per standup convention) to appear spontaneous or conversational. Kitson’s text is densely intercut between story strands, voices, asides, and each cut is marked by a bold lighting change – and occasionally by sonic trickery, too.
That’s a neat way of punctuating and heightening his laugh lines, and of telegraphing which tale he’s telling when. But it also chains Kitson to the wheel: the son-et-lumiere stylings are effective only if he maintains precision and propulsive pace. And, tonight, he doesn’t. He loses his place, and keeps commenting on the fact. The lighting states get mixed up. The show starts to drag.
That’s a shame, because when Kitson masters the tech and the tempo, Something Other Than Everything will be an excellent (maybe even extraordinary) show. At its core, this is a characteristically warts-and-all, deeply thoughtful and lyrical portrait of “a deluded white saviour” trying to wring the best out of his do-gooding impulse. But for now – altruism aside – the best thing Kitson could do is rehearse.
• At the Roundhouse, London, until 29 July. Box office: 0300-6789 222. Then at Manchester Royal Exchange, 31 August - 9 September. Box office: 0161-833 9833.
