UK star of stage and screen Samuel Barnett motors through a sixty-five minute scripted stand-up routine in Marcelo Dos Santos’ Edinburgh Fringe hit one-hander, Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen. It’s a consistently funny exploration of neuroticism, existential grief and escaping both with dating app swiping.
During Adelaide Festival season, the town is a awash with stand-up comedians. While there is often a perception funny people must be happy people, but often what is motivating the urge to stand at a microphone under the spotlight is a need for validation. For Barnett’s protagonist, he was raised by a neurotic mother, but then, when he was 21, his father died. Such up-close reminders of mortality triggered a kind of nihilism, a “why-not-do-cocaine-and-threesomes-on-a-Tuesday-night-until-you-die” internal narrative. When he meets someone who could be “the one”, “The American”, Barnett’s character comes face-to-face with his self-destruction button, which has been worn down by repeated use. He reveals that he’s going to kill his boyfriend. This reveal is not what you think.
Dos Santos’ script jumps from observational gags to existential philosophizing; there’s no space to breath, or for things to get too dark or too light. On a mostly bare stage, with some neon floor lights and a microphone, the tonal shifts are conveyed through rapid lighting changes; the back lit red curtain sometimes turns blue. When Barnett has moments of insight, and is ready to truly share his feelings, he lowers the microphone and shares without amplification or lighting.
The show’s punchline is not what you’ll expect from the set-up, like all great jokes. Perhaps the journey is more enjoyable than the destination, but you still enjoy the ride. Barnett smoothly transitions between accents, barely stops, and every word is accompanied by carefully directed physicality. Dos Santos’ work is an enjoyable dissection of how humour can be a coping mechanism, a technique for masking pain, and the Pandora’s Box which opens when the mask is lifted, or the scab is scratched off.
No Comments