Comedian Ed has some thoughts on spoilt kids
If you missed the Perth Theatre co- production of ANIMALS, there’s one more chance to catch this great imaginative children’s show, created from real interviews with six year olds.
On at Birnam Arts today, May 29, at 2pm, the show is free.
The ANIMALS team interweave live music, dance and film into a celebration of our unique relationship with animals.
From the joy of delivering a lamb with your own hands to the pain of losing your pet dog, the creative piece for ages six and over shows how creatures help humans figure stuff out and touch our emotions.
ANIMALS was written and performed by Greg Sinclair, codevised and performed by Hannah Venet, with video artist Geraldine Heaney, designer Katy Wilson and Lu Kemp.
Pictured here are Greg Sinclair and Hannah Venet with pupils from Fairview, Forgandenny and St Ninian’s primary schools in Perth.
The youngsters joined the ANIMALS creatives at earlier in the month at Perth Theatre’s cafe for a slice of cake after the show. Irish comedian Ed Byrne’s coming to Perth to make everyone realise life ain’t so bad, bringing his stand up show ‘Spoiler Alert’ to Perth Concert Hall on Thursday.
His success with shows such as the Roaring Forties, Different Class and the 1998 Perrier-nominated A Night At The Opera led to him appearing on TV in the diverse likes of Mock The Week, Father Ted, The One Show and All Star Mr and Mrs.
And his love of hillwalking resulted in him writing a regular column for The Great Outdoors magazine.
In fact, his love of natural history has crossed into television with appearances on The One Show (abseiling in Snowdonia), Countryfile (climbing Sgùrr Dearg, the ‘inaccessible pinnacle’ on Skye) and presenting items on Volcano Live (BBC).
Spoiler Alert continues a theme that he’s tackled in previous shows, that of his gradual shift from being a workingclass Dubliner to a fully paid-up The cast and creators of ANIMALS, Greg Sinclair and Hannah Venet with Fairview, Forgandenny and St Ninian’s school pupils rural-residing member of the middle classes.
And as he prepares to bring his touring show to Perth, the Irish comic is firmly of a belief that the current breed of parents spoil their kids rotten, whether it’s to do with the ever-increasing size of garden trampolines, or his own kids’ demand for elderflower cordial.
“My dad wasn’t a bad dad, he was just a 1970s dad.
“If I never saw my children ever again from this moment on, I’ve already done more parenting than he did in my entire life.
“But, of course, I made a conscious decision that I was going to be an awesome dad.”
In his new touring show, the perfectly-titled Spoiler Alert, Ed compares and contrasts the old-school child-rearing days with 21st century methods and suggests that there are different ways to learn how to be a mum or dad.
For the show Ed extends his analysis on the culture of entitlement to look at areas where we could perhaps do with being spoiled a little bit more.
“Where I think we’re not acting spoiled enough is in the political arena. We have a tendency to accept what’s happening and that’s where we should be acting more entitled: we are literally entitled to the government we want.
“We’re spoiled in all these little ways, but not spoiled enough.”
As well as stories about his two young sons, Ed weaves in routines about running out of petrol in the most awkward place imaginable, helping rescue an injured man in the Cairngorms, and the nation-dividing campaign and result of the EU referendum.
Tickets to see Ed Byrne cost £25.50, no concessions, available from Horsecross box office on 01738 621031 or www.horsecross.co.uk Comedian Ed Byrne Picture: Roslyn Gaunt