Review: Edmonds at York Theatre Royal

Saturday, 9th September 2023 at York Theatre Royal.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Described as “Doctor Faustus cosmically collides with Deal or No Deal”, Cosmic Collective’s Edmonds is a whacky show which marries improv with the absurd to take audiences through Noel Edmonds’ life and career.

The show is written and performed by Joe Feeney, who is joined briefly a little later by a leering Alastair Coughlan as a devil-being merged with a 90’s icon of chaos (who “shall not be named”). A member of the audience is selected at random to play a version of “Deal or No Deal”. All is set up as expected: 22 red boxes, each containing a number, and The Banker is at the other end of the line.

But the boxes don’t contain prizes, rather, they contain numbers which lead Feeney into a frenzied monologue about something relating to Edmonds’ life. It’s not a show seeking to glorify or vilify its muse, but the material doesn’t shy away from gentle ribbing amidst its various tales of ratings success and such. At the end of the show, said audience member is left with nothing but one final question…

Feeney is an unstoppable force who rattles, at great speed, through a mish-mash of facts and anecdotes as Edmonds. There’s much to impress in the way of mastery of a tongue twisting script, engaging delivery and comic physicality, and it’s no understatement to say that it’s a thoroughly manic display of intentional ridiculousness.

There’s no denying Edmonds an oddball show – and that it had the audience freely laughing. For me, it didn’t really feel like my bag, comedy-wise, despite having a casual knowledge of both Edmonds and Faustus – and a pretty good appreciation of slapstick and theatre leaning towards the absurd… Nevertheless, I was entertained even if I wasn’t cackling, so I’d say if you’re up for a decidedly wild and obscure 50 minutes of performance, this one is worth a punt should it find its way back on stage!

Edmonds has now completed its run, but you can keep up with Comic Collectives’ work here.

Images: Charlie Lyne