Performers: The Awkward Silence
Complex and clever, Enter The Vortex is a well-polished hour of sketch comedy.
The Awkward Silence clearly knows what they’re doing as performers. Our duo, Ralph Jones and Vyvyan Almond, take to the stage in monochrome, suited respectively in all white and all black. They are cool characters, their stage presence confident from the off – a visual yin and yang who will complement each other’s performances masterfully throughout.
Their first sketch sets up a quirky framing narrative of a grandfather telling his grandchild the story of when he attended the very show we’re currently watching. It is the first of many fourth-wall breaks, meta jokes, and self-references that Enter The Vortex showcases. From there, we delve further and further into sketches within sketches, an ever-complicating play within a play within a play within a play…
It is a refreshing and smart format that steps outside of a classic sketch show format and makes the flow between scenes feel very natural. Whether we are diving into a character’s television set to see the show they’re watching, or leap further back to examine a character’s backstory, or leaping three steps forward to revisit a sketch from several scenes ago, there is an overarching narrative reason to move from scene to scene, almost like an hour-long piece of absurdist comedy theatre rather than a compilation of largely unrelated sketches.
It is clear that Jones and Almond are showcasing their talents with this complex format, as well as with the enormous range of characters we meet within the hour. Both men play characters of every different age, profession, and temperament, with a smorgasbord of different accents and even a few celebrity impressions thrown in. The duo are both genuinely talented actors, as well as charismatic comedians. While double act sketch comedy can be hit-and-miss sometimes, the pair easily fill the stage. Their confident performances are so reassuring that even when a few jokes don’t quite land, it does not feel awkward to watch.
In places, the pace does border on too fast. The Awkward Silence race through the show at a well-rehearsed gallop, leaping between multiple plotlines and reoccurring characters so slickly that sometimes the transition gets lost and, as a result, so do we. It usually only takes a few moments to catch up and remember which layer of the narrative we’re in but still, once in a while the duo leave us behind in their race to show us how clever they are.
Enter The Vortex offers a fresh, modern take on sketch comedy, offering an absurd hour that’s heaped with creativity.
Runs until 4 June 2023
