8 – 11 February

Dik Downey and Adam Blake are incredible performers and always worth going to see. They combine not only acting, puppetry and mime skills but also completely expose themselves both physically and emotionally. It is not only that they are prepared to go on stage in their underpants, most unflattering underpants, but also they expose their own weaknesses while acting in a way that I haven’t seen before. As an audience you are completely drawn in.  

I watched the whole show with a big smile on my face, surrounded by an audience laughing out loud. I never had quite the same belly laughs that I had while watching Coulrophobia, probably because the script was not quite as strong, although the same timing and imagination was there in the performances. “What maketh a man?” is their recurrent question and through a series of vignettes they try to answer this.

The plot is split into three parts: The puppet Master (Dik), the Bear (Adam) and the Fight (the resolution). The puppets in the first part were very powerful. Who would know that Action Man figures could be made to be so realistic and entertaining and, of course, they are a particular illustration of what it is to be a man. But the highlight of the puppetry is a stunning portrayal of Leonardo da Vinci as Renaissance man fixing an Action Man.

The second part is more physical and involves Adam pretending to be a bear. Adam interrupts the show to talk to his son on his mobile telephone, highlighting the different roles of a man’s life. He could be strutting around stage in short underpants and snake belts (men never grow up), or talking with his son at bedtime. It seemed he could manage neither task properly. Being a bear was another way of coping with manhood.

It is a delightfully quirky romp through masculinity as seen by these two. Of course it has to end in a fight as all male fables do. But the third part didn’t seem to have the same power. Although, with extraordinary bravado they wrestled bare-chested, and you can’t but be impressed at how physical they are, the piece seemed to lose its way and I could feel the audience slipping away. Perhaps this was meant to bring some seriousness to the piece, but it is a very hard ask to explain why men don’t cry in a hour-long show with puppets. But if you have never seen them before you must get to the Tobacco Factory Theatres to see them now.

★★★★☆ Keith Erskine, 9th February, 2023

Photo credit: BBDC Images