One of those brain-scrambling shows where the subtext is self-evident from the first, and yet the performer spends nearly the whole show actively denying it, conspiratorially pushing a second subtext while exasperatedly maintaining that this is a whodunnit about the murder of a bird, or possibly not, I left Stuart Laws Is Stuck with my head reeling.
That some technical faults were almost indistinguishable from prepared, theatrical bits of mischief, and that his co-star, fellow stand-up Kate Hammer, also occasionally got lost and needed prompts, affords some indication of the daring levels of artistically winging it that Laws is playing with.
Set on an isolated island where a puffin has gone missing, in an apparent case of fowl play, Laws plays the troubled caretaker, recently single and raw from his break-up. Hammer plays all of the island’s puffins, with the Canadian distinguishing them through subtle changes in costume and broad American accents. Such as it is, the plot is an excessively intricate, confusing pile of guano. But the always watchable Laws has dashed some really funny lines through the script and the game Hammer is up for turning Is Stuck into something more profound than it possibly is.
Stuart Laws Is Stuck, Monkey Barrel Comedy, until 24 Aug (not 8, 9, 13, 15, 16, 22, 23), 3pm