Emma McAlpine enters the farcical world of blundering children's entertainer Jeremy Lion.
The rather unlikely premise of Jeremy Lion’s new TV show sees the alcoholic children’s entertainer trying to ‘go green’ and teach us boys and girls how to save the planet (imagine Johnny Vegas left in charge of Blue Peter). As someone who believes that “global warming is a load of baloney”, he is visited in a dream by an angry polar bear who chastises him for his selfish attitude and sends him on a mission across the world to learn his lesson.
Dressed in shorts, brightly coloured pull-up socks, a stained, burgundy blazer and a nose to match, the portly Jeremy Lion (played by Justin Edwards) is a comical figure to behold. The set is also amusingly ramshackle, with a shed made out of what looks like cardboard, transformed into a tardis-inspired teleporter that slowly falls to bits throughout the show.
Accompanied by his trusty pianist, the mostly mute ‘Hilary Cox’, Lion travels to various destinations across the globe from the Middle East to the Amazon rainforest, encountering several examples of man-made environmental disasters. Along the way he performs songs, meets some absurd characters and generally tries to see the error of his ways, imparting wisdom onto his ‘young’ audience in the process. Of course not much wisdom is passed on; as Lion scarfes Special Brew after Special Brew and his show slowly descends into madness.
We hear several songs over the course of the hour which drag on slightly and aren’t hugely funny. What we do get with them however, are some inspired props, which cause Lion to exit stage for extended periods of time only to reappear in a completely bonkers costume. You couldn’t fail to crack up at his woefully bad ventriloquism routine with ‘Slick Turpin’ the oily crow and hysterical get-up as ‘Kenny Loggins’ the tree-killing chainsaw (complete with pull cord codpiece). When he’s not singing (or drinking), he talks to himself and we learn through some amusing asides, that he is a rather down-and-out halfwit who, until a recent mishap, has been living in his brother’s garage.
Edwards has created a brilliant tragic-comic character in Lion. The more inebriated he gets, the funnier he is, but he’s also got a serious addiction and the final song – a boozy re-work of 'Ten Green Bottles' – sees the show completely unravel with Hilary Cox a nervous bystander to an out-of-control Lion. Whether or not it’s real alcohol Edwards is drinking, the sheer volume of liquid he puts away is staggering.
A mixture of surreal farce, expert characterisation and wonderfully daft ideas; this is sublime and ridiculous mayhem.
Jeremy Lion Goes Green is at the Pleasance Dome from 6-30th August at 8:20pm.
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