Check the Socks out all over the centre pages of Metro newspaper, at the start of Easter weekend and on the day of their Superheroes Preview at Bath Comedy Festival.
Lucky old Bath Comedy Festival, courtesy of good old Nick Steel its sterling organiser, had the privilege of a 90 minute show for this our tenth appearance at the Festival. (We are, if you're interested, the only act to have played all ten festivals.) They were also the first of this year's preview shows to have the actual title (Superheroes) in the programme. Leicester, Glasgow, and Brighton in May put their programmes together so far in advance that we've been listed only as "The New Show", cos I had no idea what the theme of the show was going to be back in November. In fact Nick had us supplying him with info so close to the deadline that we even managed to squeeze onto the front cover of the Bath programme:
So, how about the show itself? Thanks for asking, it was brilliant. Our best Superheroes Preview yet. And, with the exception of the last show at Glasgow, they've all been pretty good.
Because of the odd nature of the audience at our last show, the 2nd Glasgow Preview, which I'd spent a day rewriting and preparing, I didn't feel that rewrite had had a fair test, so tonight in Bath they got that rewrite with no changes (just two removals: the then-topical Ken Dodd and Stephen Hawking gags, and the lame Wonder Woman routine).
In addition, because we were doing a 90 minute show, the Bath crowd, which was about the size of the Leicester audiences and very appreciative from the start, got a 30 minute warm up from the Socks, doing our old favourite stuff. Luckily for us, though we've been there 9 times before, alternating between shows at Widcombe Social Club and the Rondo Theatre, they've been seeing the new show every time, so last night most people hadn't seen our 'staples', so gave a smashing reception to the Halloween, Michael Jackson, and Magic routines, and to Walk On The Wild Side and Sweary Poppins. And there was another addition to our comedy arsenal - Lovehoney.
Lovehoney, whose banner ad you can probably make out in the background of this Sock selfie, are new sponsors of the festival, and they do sex toys. Which gave us the opportunity for some great ad libbing, and nice callbacks throughout the show. Sadly I only videod the second half of the show, the Superheroes bit, so didn't record most of the Lovehoney adlib material, so you'll have to take my word for it that we were on form.
Thus warmed up, the Bath crowd were the perfect test for the Superhero material which is holding up very well, and will be developing further by the time of its next preview in Brighton in May (if anyone has any preview opportunities in April, we'd jump at them). High points include Superman and the Racist Brother story; improvements are needed to the Avengers Reel, the Avengers skit, and the X Men; a lot needs to be done to integrate or give better punchlines to Batman, Harley & Ivy, and the Fantastic Four; and items that may hit the cutting room floor include Steed and Mrs Peel and Spider-Man, if and when better material comes along. The writing process continues.
The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are Superheroes at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe from August 1st to 26th - ON SALE NOW!
Previews:
May 26 3.45pm & May 27 5pm Komedia Brighton
June 16 - Zion, Bristol
June 20 - Ludlow Fringe
July 11 - NeathJuly 19 - Bedford Fringe
July 29 - Derby Bar One
- with more preview dates to be announced
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