Fat Roland: Seven Inch – The Lowry, Salford

Creator: Fat Roland

Reviewer: Matt Forrest

At The Lowry this evening it was the launch night for Week 53: an annual festival held at The Lowry with performances that include comedy, theatre and dance. Believe you me, this festival will have something for everyone.

One of the more intriguing prospects of the festival comes in the form ofFat Roland: Seven Inch. The premise is a simple one: Fat Roland has turned 45 and is holding a birthday party at his record store. His gift to himself is to give the record shop a makeover and change it to a ‘Slop Shop’, which will celebrate a new drink that is all over social media and beloved by hipsters across the land, the recipe consisting of a blend of gin, petrol and feet!

This a unique and fun hour of comedy with gags and stories aplenty: Roland talks about the joys of owning a record store, and his rather bizarre take on The Great British Bake Off. In addition, there plenty of gags taking shots at numerous songs which include New Order’s Blue Monday,and Seal’s Kiss from a Rosewhich are as funny as they are daft. Roland is an awkward but likeable character that you warm to.

One of the shows main strengths is the striking set: a makeshift record store up of black and white drawings that include some great visuals gags, one being Roland’s indexing system which include ‘Early Medieval Grime’ and ‘Heavy Metal and Gospel’. The set certainly grabs your attention and draws you in and is a fantastic foil for Roland.

There are some cracking music-based one-liners, which really hit the mark, however, some of the longer stories are slightly drawn out and overstay their welcome. The show also addresses some serious issues that include loneliness, and it is an interesting critique of social media and big corporate takeovers.

Overall this a funny, silly and entertaining show that comedy and music fans will love, it certainly sets the standard high for what promises to be a very interesting couple of weeks at the Lowry, and this is certainly a show to catch.

On 24 & 25 May | Image: Contributed