Polyphony

Early readers of this blog will now I’m a huge fan of Daniel Kitson. Across all cultural genres, he is the person I most admire. I first became aware of the comic when I read a glowing online review on comedy website Chortle back in 2005. Intrigued by the reviewers superlatives, I sought Kitson’s website out and downloaded his archived Edinburgh shows (these can still be purchased online). Listening to these audio files was a revelation: previously my favourite comics were household favourite, Peter Kay and dark satirist, Bill Hicks. Despite the two being the antithesis of one another, I enjoyed them in equal measure. Kay dealt in the minor minutiae of working-class life; Hicks challenged the orthodoxy of political and economic establishments. Each offered me something different: Kay spoke about my life, but Hicks spoke about "life" in all its abstract complexity.

Bill Hicks: Would probably beat Peter Kay in a fight?

Kitson was different though. His comedy wasn’t a series of vignettes like the aforementioned; he was an author, an auteur who plotted his shows like novels with big ideas, motifs, through-lines and multiple callbacks (a comedic device where the comic makes a joke that refers to one previously told in the set. Typically this is done at the end of the set to offer a gratifying sense of closure.) It wasn’t just the structuring of his shows that appealed; his use of language put him in a class of his own: no comic in the land can do poetry and profanity like Kitson. He is able to build an ornate cathedral of beauty out of lovingly selected lexis, then raise the fucker to the ground by throwing a Tourette’s bomb through it.

This year’s Edinburgh show is yet again a complete sell-out. The fact that it sold out before the festival started really is spectacular. Even TV names do not sell out their runs in advance of coming to Edinburgh. And although people might point to the fact Kitson is playing a 150-seater tent as opposed to a theatre or arena, it’s clear from the returns queue he could be selling many more tickets. How did he become a box office phenomenon? Eschewing marketing, his success is purely down to word and mouth: people are so spellbound by his shows they feel the need to tell everyone about it.

The Roundabout venue.

This year’s show Polyphony could have been called ‘Deconstructing Daniel,’ such is the comic’s forensic dissection of his own work, audience and persona. The show begins with the comic encircled by 15 IPod Minis with accompanying Bose speakers. The premise of the show is explained: the IPods will be handed out to members of the audience; each IPod has a different characters voice; once all IPod’s are in session the play will emerge. Think Under Milk Wood with the audience being a conduit for the characters and you’re half way there.

The scene that emerges is the characters are there to hear a play by Daniel Kitson (how meta): they have been told that they will hold IPods emitting the sound of a character (more meta) and some of them aren’t happy about it: What happens if there character says something racist? Why do they have to be complicit in play? Why can’t they just sit back and enjoy it like other performances? These characters are voiced by such comedy alumni as Tim Key, Alun Cochrane, Isy Suttie and Diane Morgan. Filling the spaces between the characters is the flesh and bones voice of Daniel Kitson – the only live audio in the show. Key and Cochrane’s characters are the skeptic and follower respectively: Key’s character is unimpressed by the pretension of the play, whereas Cochrane’s won’t hear a word said against his hero. Over the course of the hour a back and forth ensues between Kitson and his ‘audience members’ with criticisms levelled on his use of outdated language (“Poppycock,” defends Kitson), pretentiously low ticket prices (“You’re not happy with being the best comedian; you want to be the cheapest too.”) and how all of his plays are about old men (Kitson disagrees: “I write well rounded women too.” A female character then constantly repeats the same platitude, thus disproving the comedian’s claim). 

As a fan of Kitson’s back catalogue, I enjoyed seeing him put his own work on trial, answering his critics with boastfulness, bravado and self-abasement. Kitson is walking through his own conscience alley, dealing with his internal criticisms and ego in a tightrope walk that could so easily trip into indulgence, the fact that it doesn't is the reason why he is the most progressive, innovative comedian out there. If you’re unfamiliar with his work, then he handles the whole high-concept with such levity there’s no reason you can’t enjoy it too.

Kitson and his tech.

Yet again then, Daniel Kitson has created a piece that enhances his reputation. Watch next year’s show to see what fun he has destroying it.