In Pursuit of Cardenio

Ken Campbell
Underbelly

This might be one of the most eccentric and enjoyable hours on the Fringe this year. Ken Campbell does not do ordinary and his homage to the Shakespeare play that either disappeared or never existed succeeds against the odds.

Effectively, the show is an improv spectacular using a variety of styles all of which disappeared 400 years ago.

Campbell, our self-styled "Goader of the Rhapsodies", who even uses his remarkable eyebrows as a prop on one occasion, fulfils the dual roles of MC and director of a remarkable ensemble.

He sets them a series of tasks rather like an old time Humphrey Lyttelton in an Elizabethan I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

The audience is initially wary, especially when the are asked to give up some valuables and then promenade as these are admired in iambic pentameters.

With great extemporising talent, the cast try "sonnetising a punter" and serenading in differently-humoured acrostics inter alia.

Oliver Senton might be the most consistent of the actors, doing a great, melancholy Nick Cave impression. However, possibly the star is the artistic director of The Sticking Place, Adam Meggido. He sings beautifully, especially when alternating between the lute music of John Dowland and musical style of Stephen Sondheim, then brings the house down with his impression of Woody Allen hiding behind a Jackson Pollock tapestry - don't ask why.

This acting masterclass is constantly inventive and amusing and for those of a literary bent or with a taste for either Shakespeare or Cervantes, should be a must.

Reviewer: Philip Fisher

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