Rondo Theatre, 2nd June 2023
Will enjoys playing with tension and awkwardness – it’s satisfying when you create it on purpose, when you don’t, we learn, it’s awful.
The audience has arrived before the comic tonight – but we’ve only been waiting a couple of minutes when Will Duggan bursts on stage after being stuck in traffic. He’s here in the nick of time - timing is crucial in comedy and this is a good start.
“Give us a cheer if you’ve heard of me!” The rooms stays quiet. It’s a nice way to acknowledge we’ve all taken a punt on tonight, and a good tension breaker to start us off. The second most well-known comic from Kettering is warming up, and the audience is warming to him. Will enjoys playing with tension and awkwardness – it’s satisfying when you create it on purpose, when you don’t, we learn, it’s awful.
"Like a buckaroo ready to buck"
Will Duggan is angry but he’s not sure why. Like a buckaroo ready to buck, he may appear calm on the surface but underneath he’s simmering with righteous indignation. We take a little tour of the possibilities. Maybe it’s the state of the world and his inevitable uselessness after the apocalypse; maybe it’s auditions for adverts or Oxbridge interviews. And there is a flipside to anger – is it that awkwardness we talked about? Maybe it’s sadness?
This is the last date of his first ever tour and Will Duggan is in his stride. He’s comfortable, amiable, knows his style, knows his material, has room for going off piste a little and enjoys a bit of audience bants. Will finds three or four audience members to connect with and return to – it’s all good natured although astrologer Denise from Arkansas who’s here for Chelsea Flower Show bears the brunt (but offers so much!).
I enjoyed this show. This is a positive review but, call me old-fashioned, I find wank jokes really boring. I think they’re lazy and exclusive. To end on one is disappointing and mars the impact of a funny show with a good theme holding it all together.
"It turns out Will Duggan does have a reason to be angry"
Will’s style of looping stories within stories is enjoyable. There are a couple of classic comedic tropes – riffs on his name and his physical appearance - but they work. The bit about trophies was great and the line “like a dog who couldn’t see but can smell a sausage” has stayed with me all weekend. His asides and sidetracks are funny, his ad-libs and off-the-cuff remarks are where I most enjoy his cleverness and feel his personality.
It turns out Will Duggan does have a reason to be angry, and he has a message. It’s an important one but I’m not sharing – it’s his story to tell and it is the moment in the show where everything shifts and falls into place. I’d like him to make more of it – tell us more, make us feel more, don’t let this chance slide away.
★★★
Will Duggan: Iceberg was on at the Rondo Theatre on the 2nd June.
Check out What's On at the Rondo Theatre.
Beccy Golding is a Bristol-based poet, fool, writer and arts administrator. She is producer of Stone the Crones - supporting & celebrating the creative voices of older / aging / elder women though spoken word events & poetry workshops.
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Find Beccy's daily poems at @FridayIsPoetsDay