Part standup, part monologue, The Abyss sees Brendan Scannell undergo ‘submersible oxygen therapy’: an undersea descent whose depth gauge is measured in emotional plunder as well as metres.
As we go deeper, we pass through layers of increasing emotional pressure in a show of both fine theatrical construction and clear candour. There’s a shark phobia developed as a boy; addiction problems developed as an adult; even a fleeting and oblique reference to childhood assault. And as our submersible reaches its terminal depth, Scannell spends 20 raw minutes on his family’s tribulations with a brother going through psychosis, throwing the clan into that titular abyss.
This will not be the most uproariously funny show you see at the Fringe. That’s not to say that it’s not funny at all; it is. Occupying space somewhere between Mike Birbiglia and David Sedaris, Scannell packs his storytelling with a mordant humour, a flair for the absurd, and a turn of phrase that pricks up the ear every sentence or two. But the emotional punch of The Abyss is just too powerful to not overwhelm the show’s comedy, asking a question that it can only begin to answer: how do you get back up from the abyss?
Brendan Scannell: The Abyss, Gilded Balloon Patter House, until 30 Aug, 9.20pm