The Earl and the InstruMentalist

Welcome to Dragonfly's Gentlemens Club, where your host for the hour, The Earl of Belfast, recounts his fantastical adventures in pursuit of a redheaded musical comedian from Cork. Nonsensical! you exclaim, ‘Does such a thing even exist?’.

Despite being based on a very very loose plot, the hour does have some structure. In the first section, Belfast illustrates his adventure by powerpoint presentation. While he is very tall and his imagination obviously vast, it isn’t necessarily funny and falls on the wrong side of absurd.

Section two, enter Valerie Ni Loinsigh, the aforementioned redhead. There is something of a David O’Doherty style about her; her way of putting an absurd narrative to keyboard warrants more than a free gig at the Fringe. Unfortunately. throughout her set, Belfast remains on stage, not complementing her set in anyway, but playing on his iphone.

The third section sees an awkward interaction between Belfast and NoLoinsigh before the stage is given to Canadian musical comic, May Martin. Martin recounts her crush on Don Cheadle – a glimpse into a full show I wish I had seen. Quite a motley hour, but overall another stark example that the price need not  exclude you from seeing some of the best stuff at the Fringe.