Alison Thea-Skot – The Human Tuning Fork

Article by Simon Fielding | 18 Aug 2011

Character based show The Human Tuning Fork turns on one startling, vividly realised figure in particular: vocal coach Tiff Mason combines piercing vocal-range demonstrations with demented, jolly-hockey sticks mannerisms as she badgers the midday audience into matching her expressive whims. The cave-dwelling crowd humour this, in the main, allowing the performer to portray a devastatingly self-absorbed individual with a weak notion of empathy. It is an explosive introduction, and the performer sets herself a tough task in maintaining the pace after such a frantic opening.

Thea-Skot's next character is a vacuous children's TV presenter who has been hastily shoved into the role of reporting from the scene of a serious crime. She has a deft way with puns, and the underpinning suggestion that TV tends to trivialise is subtly released without shouting us down.

Not every scene in the course of the hour achieves this level of coherence and perception. However, there is enough in The Human Tuning Fork to suggest a bright future for Alison Thea-Skot.

Alison Thea-Skot: The Human Tuning Fork Just the Tonic at the Caves Until Aug 28 at 12.00 £6.50