Emma McAlpine reviews Rob Rouse's story-based show about moving to the countryside.
Last year, Rob Rouse brought us the tale of his rampant dog Ronnie, this year he’s eating roadkill. Of course, there’s a lot more to the story than that, he talks about moving his family to the Peak District, making new friends with local characters and treats us to a graphic potty-training description that could work as a revolutionary new form of contraception. Nevertheless, the one notion you are left with, over any other at the end of his show is: don’t experiment with roadkill if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Having initially worried that living in the countryside would be boring, Rouse is delighted to discover a whole new world of fun-loving eccentrics and a primitive satisfaction to be had in “living off the land”. He attends sheepdog trials, guts his own rabbits and attends “spit and sawdust” weddings with plastic cutlery and paper napkins. He is enchanted by the simplicity of rural life and throws himself into it with gusto. Too much gusto, as it turns out, which leads him to get embroiled in a grim altercation with a dead sheep. Squeamish vegetarians beware: Rouse has a skill for effectively conveying a gross image.
It’s his performance that really stands out here, rather than his script-writing. He is particularly good at social parodies, doing an excellent turn as a newsreader over-dramatising the volcanic ash cloud debacle and comparing sheepdogs to Polish builders, with a wonderfully comic impression. However, while the narrative never dulls, it doesn’t quite pack enough comedic punch to have you shaking with laughter either. Even the climactic end feels a little manufactured, with a hi-energy callback scene that seems so far-fetched, it takes the edge off the story. Up until that point, its plausibility was part of its strength.
Rouse is undoubtedly a good stand-up and one who for the last two years has produced solid shows with an original premise. If he could only sharpen up the writing with more punchlines and comic flair; he’d be up there with some of the best storytellers on the circuit.
Rob Rouse: The Great Escape will be at the Underbelly until the 29th August at 8:30pm
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