By: Ryan Lane
Reviewer: Simon Topping
This one man multiple character comedy presents funny vignettes plucked from the performer’s childhood in this engaging piece, which has a lot of potential.
In mystical Wales an ethereal character bids us to seek a man for her; A man with legs and arms like tree trunks, a man who will guard over Wales while she holidays in Swansea. This is the surreal start to Ryan Lane’s funny piece based on his complex relationship with his hometown and the people within it, which provides plenty of crowd interaction and mischievous pixie-like prodding in this entertaining hour.
Most of the action takes place in Llanidloes (or Llani as the locals call it), a small town in the heart of Wales where, presumably, Lane grew up.
Martin, our local tour guide, describes Llani to the audience and in the telling, it doesn’t appear the town embraces the new or many modern values on the whole. Martin is also a theatre maker and he demonstrates an extract from his kitchen sink drama currently being played by the local drama group. This is a “serious” play about prostitution, broken homes and one boys love of a leek. It is funnily played out by Lane and has a good portion of the crowd in stitches of laughter.
As the evening goes on we are introduced to more characters who harang the gathering and display their ignorance and intolerance of outsiders and “others”.
A homophobic, yet homoerotic, PE instructor stands out as being particularly disturbing and funny, in equal measure. We are also introduced to a young Lane who just wants to dance and lip sync to pop while wearing a feather bower but cannot bring himself to go through with it due to the pressures that are brought to bear on him by those close, including his granddad.
From the performance you get the sense it must have been very difficult for Lane, a non heterosexual man, to grow up in such a stifling environment. However, Lane does not dwell on this beyond the snippets of bigotry we are shown in the short sketches he presents. It would be nice to see this explored with more depth and emotion.
Lane’s crowd work is very good, despite having to battle with a shy audience, reluctant to play and the noisy ambience of the venue distracting from his performance.
Lane is at his best just being silly and he does this very well. There is much to praise in this warm performance and if set in a cosier setting, would probably see this piece shine. Lane has a lot of potential and Ryan Lane Will be There Now in a Minute is worth a watch.
Reviewed on 10th May. Runs to 12th May.
The Reviews Hub Score
Lots of Potential
