★★★★★
‘Audience participation’ is a dirty term in performance. It’s an unwritten rule that audiences would rather pretend that they weren’t there. If a show does offer some direct connection it’s done in a laboured way that usually makes everyone feel a lot more awkward and disrupts the rhythm of the performance.
Lawrence Dodd’s hour is continuous participation. The show only exists as a physical conversation between him and the audience. Dodd is a masterful clown, who literally acts as a conductor to the audience, bringing out our musicality, our deepest thoughts and a lot of laughter.
Dodd appears like some adenoidal guru. Talking about energy and serenity, but with a nervous boyishness, picking up on every facial expression of the audience.
It could easily become uncomfortable or even confronting to some audiences. I felt safe in the room, and trust quickly builds between audience and performer.
Between the laughs, a sophisticated philosophy blooms, and by the end we are all up on our feet, surrendering to the unpredictability of life. It’s unlike anything else you’ll experience at the fringe. It’s incredible how closed off we are to each other now, that a performer asking us to make contact with a hand on each other’s shoulder could seem so radical.
Lawrence Dodd: This Can’t Be It is on at Nook at Gilded Balloon Teviot until August 31st
