I don’t think I’ll be able to get the image of a well-spoken white man from Norfolk rapping a lyric about the rap song being performed not even being about a country pub (despite the show’s title) any time soon. Chris Sainton-Clark goes for a variety of music styles in this collection of observational comedy songs, complete with commentary on the said styles (why exactly, he asks himself, is he singing a song in the style of country and western with an American twang?).
The characters the audience are introduced to are the kind of people one might find in my own local pub, and one might reasonably conclude that, in that respect at least, southwest London isn’t that far removed from rural Norfolk. Equally, you would be forgiven for wondering what someone would actually have to do to get barred from a pub – though Sainton-Clark does point out a few subtle ways in which bar staff like to get their own back on uncivilized customers.
There’s a disarmingly engaging style to proceedings, with some reassurances for anybody who has been on the receiving end of unwanted advances: practically the rest of the whole world is on your side as Chris (it’s first name terms after a while, such is his hospitable nature) recollects some brutal but gloriously hilarious comebacks to the pathetic attempts to pull by those who believe themselves to be God’s gift to women. It ain’t easy being a barman, as this witty and insightful set of songs demonstrates.
Review by Chris Omaweng
Join comedy musician Chris Sainton-Clark as he takes you through his troublesome and amusing experiences of working in British pubs. After years of toiling away behind a rural bar, witnessing bar fights, fruit machine addicts, perverts and compulsive liars, Chris decided to consolidate his experiences into song form. His tales include stories of a legend in the pub known only as ‘Bullshit Man’, a drag queen who could make any bigot get up and dance, a hopeless romantic named Barry and many more.
TALES FROM A BRITISH COUNTRY PUB
theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall at the Edinburgh Fringe
12 to 24 August 2024
Book Tickets for Edinburgh Playhouse and the King’s Theatre Glasgow.
