One hour before press night of one-man musical ‘Les Liasions Dangereuses’, we take a look inside the dressing room of Crispin Cox, who has stepped in at the last minute. The original star has been ‘cancelled’ which is why Cox has so kindly taken his place.
This fifty-minute performance is actively annoying. It is a series of half telephone conversations in between which Cox puts on enough powder to cake the whole cast of Les Mis twice over. In between calls, the viewer is given a bit of background about the person on the other end of the phone, each time featuring irritatingly repetitive jokes that consistently fall flat. This then leads into a yarn- likely about something that happened ‘a hundred years ago’- before he goes back to rehearsing the same song’s opening bars again, again and again.
Despite Crispin being a flamboyant character, he is still overacted. He baas like a sheep to say goodbye, and, as mentioned, the gags are never funny the first time around- let alone the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth. His French accent is good though, and so it’s a shame that it wasn’t used more.
The narrative on cancel culture is hollow and unavailing. Nothing of note is offered or can be taken away from the piece, and the ending can be predicted within the first ten minutes; the title itself more or less gives it away, anyway.
If you like nonsensical humour such as doing a DNA test to find out you’re 1% Jewish and throwaway lines such as “I’m gay, so I can’t be racist”, then this is the show for you.
The Cancellation of Crispin Cox is available online now via https://www.crispincox.com/
Reviewer: Scot Cunningham
Reviewed: 29th July 2021
North West End UK Rating: ★