Stage: Expertly controlled chaos

 

BriTANicK
by Brian McElhaney, Nick Kocher
dir Alex Edelman
prd Zach Zucker, Allegra Rosenberg
Soho Theatre, London • 27.Feb-4.Mar.23

In one blissfully silly hour, gifted writers and performers Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher take the audience on a hilarious trip into their own obsessions. Their humour is surreal and ridiculous, with meta gags and punchlines that circle around to get funnier each time they reappear. As teens in Atlanta, the duo came up with the name BriTANicK (rhymes with Titanic), which they acknowledge is a mess. Over the last two decades, they have won awards for their show and an Emmy nomination as writers on Saturday Night Live.

A series of contained sketches that feature overlapping themes and repeating jokes, this show builds momentum and energy until it reaches a wonderfully out-of-control crescendo. The duo opens with a quietly witty scene that establishes their personalities, with the thoughtful Brian trying to read a book while the mischievous Nick, playing an unseen ghost, pesters him. Subsequent sketches take them to Old England, where their duel is interrupted by an over-friendly horse, and the Wild West, where they play every role in a crowded saloon.

Along the way, there are many more outrageously inventive moments set, for example, in a memory loss clinic, plus encounters with their personal dreams and nightmares. And they gleefully push boundaries of political correctness. The most insistent running joke is that Nick has taken a vow of celibacy prior to his wedding, which has been delayed by the pandemic. This leaves him desperate for any form of intimacy, either from Brian or frankly anyone in the audience. His amorous yearnings escalate to a frankly brilliant explosion of trousers-around-the-ankles slapstick.

While all of this spirals with a sense of wildly chaotic improvisation, it's impressive how Brian and Nick keep their finely tuned choreography so fresh and even dangerous. After decades working together, the camaraderie between them is hugely engaging, especially when things get physical. Their childlike sense of imagination is infectious, as they play with invisible props and settings in ways that are both goofy and fiendishly clever. And because their connection is so strong, the deeper ideas add a layer of resonance that catches us by surprise, even as we never stop laughing.

For information, SOHO THEATRE >

photos by Sela Shiloni and Stamptown • 27.Feb.23