Eliza Power heads to Camden for the last day of the Crawl.
I sadly missed the first day of comedy at the Camden Crawl. I spent most of Saturday unable to move from fear of being introduced to the contents of my stomach. Luckily by Sunday I was able to crawl (yes, pun intended), out of my bed and into Camden.
Really Lovely Comedy at The Black Heart started the day off on a high for me. McNeil and Pamphilon (pictured) gave audience members the chance to choose sketches by picking names out of a hat (I picked 1940s shop) marvelling at the different looks (from indie scenester to trainspotting paedophile) one jacket could create. The witty twosome drew in crowds and amused the audience with self-deprecating banter. Compered by Thom Tuck, The Black Heart had one of the strongest line ups of the crawl, featuring The Beta Males and Frisky & Manish amongst others.
Some of the venues weren't suitable for certain shows, Horace Fingernips being a good example. Ross Lee's rock horror musical about a failing comedian possessed by the spirit of an evil court jester, was staged at the Jazz Cafe, a large open venue without seating that lacked the intimacy required for a full-on musical. Sadly, the audience seemed to agree and left the show in droves. The musical lacked a lot of the humour and sharp dialogue needed to hold the audience's interest, and the cast instantly picking up on the hostility of the crowd only served to make matters worse.
The main issue I had with the comedy at the Crawl is that, while there is a large enough selection of acts to see across the 20 or so venues, the entire line-up is playing simultaneously, with the performances scheduled between 14.00-17.30. Despite the relative proximity of the majority of venues, you can't see a representative selection of comedy, between 30 minutes and 1 hour a piece, when you are limited to just three and a half hours. So I missed out on seeing various comedy acts I had planned to see, as they clashed with the other performers showing in the limited amount of time across the venues.
It wasn't only me that felt the tight running of the programme. Chatting to other people throughout the crawl, the vast majority felt they had little opportunity to see a varied choice of comedy, due either to late starting times, walking distances between chosen venues or the duration of the comedy they chose.
It was good to see a return to the all-inclusive ticket after last years 'Comedy Crawl' where music and comedy was separated, but a general rethink of the comedy/music schedule would definitely help matters. A more evenly spread programme might also draw in the bigger names of the comedy industry, not only improving the line-up but appealing to wider audiences as a whole.
www.thecamdencrawl.com
photo credit: Eliza Power
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