A Good Neet Aht – Grove Hall, South Kirkby

Writer/performer: Phil Green

South Kirkby is experiencing a theatre renaissance, with the Grove Hall one of four venues for touring theatre in Wakefield serviced by Red Ladder Theatre Company and the Mallard pub at Moorthorpe Station hosting acting and stand-up courses.

A Good Neet Ahtproved to be an entertaining mixed bag. The stage area is covered in all sorts of this and that of use in the show: a movie camera, a big screen and a television screen, a rack of costumes, loads of books (seminal titles from The Uses of Literacy onwards) and so on. At the start we see that classic piece of Morecambe and Wise where they attempt “Are you lonesome tonight?” with Sid and Dick and get all confused with the “Boom-Ooh-Yatatatas”. At the end of it Phil Green steps through the curtains to the sound of the old music hall song “My girl’s a Yorkshire girl” and ends up doing a gentle little clog dance to it.

This, one thinks, is going to be a pretty miscellaneous evening – and one is right! Phil Green is an engaging performer, droll. whimsical and sympathetic, and he does many things pretty well, including singing a sentimental ballad! He also happily borrows from elsewhere, including Ian McMillan, the Bard of Barnsley, on his dream where he is accused of not being Yorkshire enough!

Green marks out the landmarks of Sharlston, his home village, in books and from time to time returns to memories of his numerous aunts and uncles or regales us with the less than pleasant memories of his first and second kiss. A memorable routine has him making his way to the kitchen to get some beer at a party swaying, ducking and diving past a series of uncles and aunts all singing different songs.

However, he’s easily distracted into re-creating beer commercials from the early days of ITV or the “watersplash” Rugby League final or recalling the stars of “The Comedians”. In a routine which is a sort of Bernard Manning for 2024 the number of bad taste jokes seems a bit excessive, but generally he carries off everything with good humour. The merest hint of bitterness surfaces when he recalls the comments of lecturers at his college “down South”, but it soon passes.

With the aid of Will Hall on “all things technical”, Phil Green works hard, changing costume, working the camera and whatever, without seeming rushed or losing his unassuming manner.

Reviewed on 9th February 2024. Currently touring.