Comedy Review: George Fouracres: Gentlemon, Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
George Fouracres: Gentlemon, Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh * * *
Yet he seems to belong to another time entirely, a bygone era of keenly sung hymns, heavy industry and keeping a loft full of pigeons. In buttoned-up tweed, he's a contradictory, fogeyish figure, trepidatiously picking his way over the treacherous terrain of the British class system.
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Hide AdA straightforward biography might chronicle how he dragged himself up by his bootstraps to attend a prestigious university and finally, is getting some traction as an actor. Yet that overlooks his immense fondness, even hero worship of his grandfather and his ain folk's traditions, and the imposter syndrome that constantly dogs him. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his introspective childhood imagination and love of romantic derring-do like Sharpe and Hornblower, Fouracres, who forged his Fringe reputation in the sketch act Daphne, charts his personal development with grotesquely funny act-outs and characterisations. The best of these is a gratuitous, hilarious recreation of Dad's Army in which he plays all the parts, manically twisting the cosy charm with wartime reality.
His ongoing insecurities extend to the coherence of his show. But this is an otherwise striking debut from a gifted, slightly messed-up eccentric.
Until 26 August