| 07 August 2011
The schtick of the show is this: It is Caroline’s goal to help the audience ‘exceed their wildest dreams’ by training them to complete a moment of silence. This is an odd aspiration, yes, but surely no one could take offence, right? Wrong. Never have I come out of a comedy and felt an audience’s reaction to be more at odds than at the end of Caroline Mabey’s One Minute Silence.
Its defenders found her scatterbrained and whimsical mode of delivery endearing. Truly, Mabey’s dippy mind produces some of the most bewildering and wonderful lines you could hope to topple from a person’s mouth. These same people were equally bemused by the occasional appearances of her animated pals, sidekick Kip the Coffeepot and egg-based buddy Mr Skrangles.
The rest, including myself, saw the show from a less rose-tinted perspective. Forgetting where she was in her notes repeatedly, Mabey kept restarting, all the while berating how poorly it was going. This nonchalance lost her the vital connection with her audience, who quite frankly were disenchanted. Extravagant attempts to draw them back in—including doling out characters to play—only widened the gap.
I felt this show made for a stilted and uncomfortable forty minutes. I’d look elsewhere.
Caroline Mabey’s One Minute Silence, Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 4-28 Aug (not 17), 6.15 pm
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