Edinburgh Review: Ian D Montford - Touching The Dead

Edinburgh Review: Ian D Montford - Touching The Dead

27 August, 2010
by: Hollyw

Holly Williams reviews Tom Binns' new character creation, Sunderland psychic Ian D Montford.

Toms Binns got in a bit of trouble with his last character, Ivan Brackenbury the hospital DJ, after he interrupted the Queen's speech on Christmas day when he really was DJing in a Birmingham hospital. Some listeners were seriously unimpressed that he called Queenie boring, and he got the sack. But Binns has returned with another spoof role, this time as a psychic from Sunderland who puts the audience in touch with dead celebrities.

Binns has got this pastiche pitch perfect. From the blonde and red highlighted floppy hairdo to the embroidered jeans; from the 'does that make sense to you?' catch-phrase to his simpering smiles and horrible little winks, from the cheesy music to the slight incongruity of the broad accent, Ian D Montford is cringeworthily believable. He is also, obviously, a bit rubbish as a psychic, clearly a fake, and the show seems at first to be taking an easy shot at the inherent naffness and slight creepiness of a stage medium.

And then, suddenly, he's more than just a believable character; he's almost a believable psychic. Binns does what mediums do – he's got the tricks of the trade down as well as a parodic performance. He cold reads the audience, seeming to know the name of their pet cat or local pub, and despite sending up the whole set up, Binns – who has been trained by an illusionist – also reveals just how tricksy a good pseudo-psychic can be. When he can tell you any fact in the Guinness Book of Records, or tell what page of Shakespeare's Complete Works an audience member is looking at – and then recite it – the joke might be that he's pretending it's the spirits guiding him, but the wonder is that he's actually getting it right.

Having said that, the show also relies on a perky audience, up for a bit of fun, and in the absence of that on the day I watch, at times his schtick gets a little repetative or falls flat. Fortunately, he's usually got another credulity-testing trick somewhere up his sleeve.

Ian D Montford: Touching The Dead is at the Pleasance Courtyard until the 30th August at 2:15pm

Return to the Edinburgh Fringe homepage

Edinburgh Review: Ian D Montford - Touching The Dead

27 August, 2010
by: Hollyw

Holly Williams reviews Tom Binns' new character creation, Sunderland psychic Ian D Montford.

Toms Binns got in a bit of trouble with his last character, Ivan Brackenbury the hospital DJ, after he interrupted the Queen's speech on Christmas day when he really was DJing in a Birmingham hospital. Some listeners were seriously unimpressed that he called Queenie boring, and he got the sack. But Binns has returned with another spoof role, this time as a psychic from Sunderland who puts the audience in touch with dead celebrities.

Binns has got this pastiche pitch perfect. From the blonde and red highlighted floppy hairdo to the embroidered jeans; from the 'does that make sense to you?' catch-phrase to his simpering smiles and horrible little winks, from the cheesy music to the slight incongruity of the broad accent, Ian D Montford is cringeworthily believable. He is also, obviously, a bit rubbish as a psychic, clearly a fake, and the show seems at first to be taking an easy shot at the inherent naffness and slight creepiness of a stage medium.

And then, suddenly, he's more than just a believable character; he's almost a believable psychic. Binns does what mediums do – he's got the tricks of the trade down as well as a parodic performance. He cold reads the audience, seeming to know the name of their pet cat or local pub, and despite sending up the whole set up, Binns – who has been trained by an illusionist – also reveals just how tricksy a good pseudo-psychic can be. When he can tell you any fact in the Guinness Book of Records, or tell what page of Shakespeare's Complete Works an audience member is looking at – and then recite it – the joke might be that he's pretending it's the spirits guiding him, but the wonder is that he's actually getting it right.

Having said that, the show also relies on a perky audience, up for a bit of fun, and in the absence of that on the day I watch, at times his schtick gets a little repetative or falls flat. Fortunately, he's usually got another credulity-testing trick somewhere up his sleeve.

Ian D Montford: Touching The Dead is at the Pleasance Courtyard until the 30th August at 2:15pm

Return to the Edinburgh Fringe homepage

Edinburgh Review: Ian D Montford - Touching The Dead

27 August, 2010
by: Hollyw

Holly Williams reviews Tom Binns' new character creation, Sunderland psychic Ian D Montford.

Toms Binns got in a bit of trouble with his last character, Ivan Brackenbury the hospital DJ, after he interrupted the Queen's speech on Christmas day when he really was DJing in a Birmingham hospital. Some listeners were seriously unimpressed that he called Queenie boring, and he got the sack. But Binns has returned with another spoof role, this time as a psychic from Sunderland who puts the audience in touch with dead celebrities.

Binns has got this pastiche pitch perfect. From the blonde and red highlighted floppy hairdo to the embroidered jeans; from the 'does that make sense to you?' catch-phrase to his simpering smiles and horrible little winks, from the cheesy music to the slight incongruity of the broad accent, Ian D Montford is cringeworthily believable. He is also, obviously, a bit rubbish as a psychic, clearly a fake, and the show seems at first to be taking an easy shot at the inherent naffness and slight creepiness of a stage medium.

And then, suddenly, he's more than just a believable character; he's almost a believable psychic. Binns does what mediums do – he's got the tricks of the trade down as well as a parodic performance. He cold reads the audience, seeming to know the name of their pet cat or local pub, and despite sending up the whole set up, Binns – who has been trained by an illusionist – also reveals just how tricksy a good pseudo-psychic can be. When he can tell you any fact in the Guinness Book of Records, or tell what page of Shakespeare's Complete Works an audience member is looking at – and then recite it – the joke might be that he's pretending it's the spirits guiding him, but the wonder is that he's actually getting it right.

Having said that, the show also relies on a perky audience, up for a bit of fun, and in the absence of that on the day I watch, at times his schtick gets a little repetative or falls flat. Fortunately, he's usually got another credulity-testing trick somewhere up his sleeve.

Ian D Montford: Touching The Dead is at the Pleasance Courtyard until the 30th August at 2:15pm

Return to the Edinburgh Fringe homepage

Hollyw