Tree

This week I went to see Daniel Kitson’s play ‘Tree.’

Daniel Kitson - or simply ‘Kitson’ to his fans - is the greatest stand-up no one’s heard of. He doesn’t do radio, tv or press because he no longer needs it. Whilst other comedians work in ‘improvised’ anecdotes on chat shows to abet ticket sales, Kitson lets his fans do the promotion. And it works. In a sense Kitson runs a benign pyramid scheme where an individual is so wowed by his performance they tell others to go; in turn they tell others; in the end everyone is made to feel richer by experiencing his brilliance.

Kitson started young as a stand-up comedian. He had a reputation for owning any room. He was as adept at quelling belligerent drunks as he was titillating chin-strokers. It was this accomplished versatility that led him to the Perrier Award for best Edinburgh show in 2002. At this point he could have gone on to be the biggest comic in the land, enjoying the riches that come with mainstream success. Instead he decided to plough his own furrow, sowing hour-long shows with feeling, theme and self-commentary. As the King of Edinburgh took his fight to the mainstream- eschewing the puerile for the philosophical- casual fans deserted, rewarding loyalists who stayed with bewitching lyrical shows of beauty.

Since mastering the stand-up form, Kitson has branched out into storytelling and plays. Humour is still at the core of what he does, but there’s now great pathos too. His show at ‘The Old Vic’ paired him alongside comedian, Tim Key, who plays Sidekick Simon in the Alan Partridge movie. The play begins with Key’s character berating himself on being late for a date. Calling his date to apologise, she reminds him the clocks have changed, meaning he is in fact fifty minutes early. A man laughs from up a tree: that man is played by Daniel Kitson. It materializes that he has been living up the tree for the past ten years to thwart a suburban deforestation plot. You see his neighbour, a bully and a blowhard, wants the tree on the green felled so he can enjoy some more sunlight. Cowered by intimidation but silently resistant, Kitson’s neighbours keep him fed and watered by placing food and water in a bucket pulley contraption. There is a hilarious scene where the two characters take tea using this method.

Obviously Key’s character thinks the other’s sacrifice is nuts and refuses to believe him. I mean: how do you go for a shit when you’re up a tree? Don’t you want to have a shower? How do you earn money? The moody belligerence of Key against the wide-eyed optimism of Kitson is the start of what becomes an odd couple bromance. By the end though, a simple story of resistance becomes a meditation on truth and lies.

The play has just had its run extended so you still have time to get a ticket.
Or: see the kind of stuff he does here: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7itrqtMs1qY