Hilarity Charity Comedy Gala, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre - review with pictures
‘Thanks for coming out for a great cause,’ says headliner Romesh Ranganathan – and he is right.
Central Youth Theatre do a lot in Wolverhampton and beyond to help young actors find their feet and perhaps give them a springboard to a career in something they love.
That’s why it’s great to see the likes of Romesh, Josh Widdicombe and Daniel Kitson take time out to come and join in a fundraiser to support such a worthy organisation.
It’s the Hilarity Charity Comedy Gala at The Grand Theatre, CYT’s fourth annual effort at raising money to put on their other shows and projects throughout the year.
The Grand was pretty full of people looking for a bellyful of rib-tickling laughs, and they weren’t to be disappointed with five slots (plus our compere Kitson) keeping things lively.
First up was Kitson, his unique brand of acting upon and reacting to things going on around him keeping us all entertained throughout.
Whether it was playing guessing games at the contents of a woman’s handbag to ridiculing why actors find it necessary to bow for us at the end of a play, Daniel was quick-witted and endearing with his visions of life. He was the sort of guy you’d love to put the world to rights with over a pint.
We started with the slightly psychotic and downtrodden viewpoints of Alun Cochrane, who had trepidation for even the common greetings of modern conversation.
If we learnt one thing from his set we can definitely apply to life it’s you can never wear too much denim.
Widdicombe was next, and he used that same quick-fire pulse that has made him so popular on TV shows like The Last Leg. He took us down memory lane to childhood family holidays where his father picked Birmingham over Venice. Why? For the canal system. And don’t get Josh started on narrow boats.
Next, Suzi Ruffell took us through some relationship advice before a short interval and Tim Key took to the stage with a can of Kronenbourg to give us some of the most sadistic poetry ever written.
The largest cheers were saved for Romesh, and his questioning of life choices had everybody throwing their heads back and laughing, particularly one guy who laughed so hard Romesh had to reply ‘it’s like you’ve never left the house before’.
It was all, of course, in aid of a good cause. And the jangle of change entering collection buckets filled our ears as we left the Grand, hoping that CYT had hit their targets for another year.
