Paul Zerdin at Oakengates Theatre @ The Place
A loud-mouthed youth, a dirty old grandad and two willing volunteers from the audience were the stars of ventriloquist Paul Zerdin’s Shropshire show.
Zerdin proved himself a master of a variety of characters during a routine which lasted more than 90 minutes at Oakengates Theatre @ The Place last night.
From event compere Alasdair Rimmer to Baby, feisty youngster Sam and old man Albert, Zerdin had plenty of material to keep the crowd of 335 in stitches all evening – with much of it of a raunchy nature.
Zerdin was regularly the butt of the jokes of his puppets, who picked on him for being ‘lonely’ and a ‘loser’. And even when he was speaking with several characters at once his routine was flawless.
The real success of Zerdin’s act was his interaction with the audience.
From the start of the routine one man in the front row – Dave – was picked out and picked on all night.
But the highlight was when couple Simon and Fiona were plucked from the audience. The reluctant pair donned masks and were controlled by Zerdin – and by the time their routine had finished they had grown into the role enough to be afforded the cheer of the night from the crowd.
The audience had already been warmed up by the high octane and ingeniously delivered act by The Raymond and Mr Timpkins Revue, which saw a medley of pop and retro songs visually explored with words and actions on stage – with hilarious results.
Peter Kitchen