Socks Leicester Preview No1 breakdown

The Socks did a show as part of the Leicester Comedy Festival on Feb 12th, not only their first gig of 2016, but the first tryout of new Shakespeare material, along with the best of Minging Detectives. So, how did it go, and what's going to survive to their second preview on Feb 20th?

Ming Intro - STD / Loofah / Persuaders - 9/10
Shakes gags - Pericles / Yorick / Coriolanus - 5/10 not bad
I'm A Sock - 8/10, they were a small crowd so slow to warm up. Had them by the end

Leicester City routine - 8/10. Only for this night but good.
Shakes gags - Alls Well, Lear, Claudio - 4/10
Gangsta - 9/10 Solid
Tie A Yellow Ribbon - 7/10, didn't warm to the toilet gags, as has often happened
Sherlock/Shylock - 8/10

Richard 3rd - New part "Now" 5/10. Needs tightening, but sticking with it
Old part "Hump & hairpiece" - 9/10. That's staying.
Walk On Wild Side - 9/10, but really need something new that good

Z Cars - 9/10
Morse - 8/10
Black & White Minstrels - 9/10
Gangsta 2 - 8/10
Poirot - 8/10

Shakes Poem - 7/10 Not bad
Gags Magnum PI, NYPD - 5/10 (this stretch of show losing momentum)
The Killing - 8/10 fading to 6/10

Othello - 4/10 - Was the biggest gamble and the weakest link. The strong Minging material, which stood up well, left Othello looking very patchy. Far too much of it is not funny in its own right, relying on familiarity with the play. Othello breakdown:
Tush - no
Des De Moaner - no
Iago plays on name - no
Brabantio - first bit that worked
Pringles - promising, will develop
Hanky - getting there
Double Desdemona - good, will develop
Emilia - good, will develop
Lodovico - no

So, out of something nearing 10 minutes of material, I can salvage two. But that's the value of a preview, and I'm so grateful the Leicester audience had been sufficiently satisfied by the preceding 50 minutes that they let us get away with it.

Well Did You Evah - 8/10. Closed with a song, and it's a good one.

Given that this hour had no through-story, had no breaking-up routine, and had no new songs, it managed to complete its full hour well. On Saturday I'll do much more Shakespeare, which will be even more of a gamble, but I'm up for it (I had Titus Andronicus with me, but no time to try it). As it was the only Shakespeare material for the new show was:

Shakes gags - Pericles / Yorick / Coriolanus - 5/10 not bad
Leicester City routine - 8/10. Only for this night but good.
Shakes gags - Alls Well / Lear / Claudio - 4/10
Richard 3rd - New part "Now" 5/10. Needs tightening, but sticking with it
Old part "Hump & hairpiece" - 9/10. That's staying.
Shakes Poem - 7/10 Not bad
Othello - 4/10
Well Did You Evah - 8/10
(8 items out of 21)

It's a start. And worth comparing with preview Leicester Comedy Festival shows that I've used as early tryouts for the show that would subsequently come together in Edinburgh that August:

Minging Detectives 1st tryout Feb 15
Socks In Space full show Feb 14
Socks In Space 1st tryout Feb 13
Best of Feb 12
On The Telly full show Feb 11
5 day run of Goes To Hollywood Feb 09