This is, Phil Green tells us at the top, the most important show of our lives. It’s a show to save all middle-aged men from a midlife crisis. And it’s a show for all people, young and old, men and women, who want to put their shoulder to the wheel of that cause. In clumsier hands, that bravado and that focus could be off-putting. But Green has a classy touch, and a show that’s explicitly not about men’s mental health and suicide (but of course is really) still addresses the elephant in this particular room with due care.
Green’s premise is that, as a childless middle-aged man with a spare room, he’s increasingly a half way house for friends going through divorce. It’s an original route in, and one soon sees why Green provides a refuge. He’s sweet, perceptive, and empathetic to his friends’ plights, without being complicit in some of their insularities. And he works hard, minute by minute, to keep the joke rate high. There’s a lovely sequence about his Chief Scout Award, and a very sharp ‘balanced’ argument about why men are angry.
But perhaps there’s just too much going on here in this stand-up-cum-TEDTalk-cum personal story. The initial premise feels under-explored with the reliance on projected slides an unsatisfying substitute. A show-stopping moment doesn’t really stop the show as it’s not given the time to breathe. Green easily has an hour of class, heart and laughs in here, but one feels a bit of confident paring back is needed just to let it stand on its own feet.
Phil Green: A Broken Man’s Guide to Fixing Others, PBH Free Fringe @ Banshee Labyrinth, until 24 Aug (not 13), 2.40pm