Just The Tonic at the Caves Archives

Eric’s Tales of the Sea: A Submariner’s Yarn – Just The Tonic at The Caves

3Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Eric’s Tales of the Sea: A Submariner’s Yarn – Just The Tonic at The Caves

Eric, a veteran storyteller, began his career as a submarine sailor at the age of sixteen. As you would expect if you’ve ever read The Tale of the Ancient Mariner at school, Eric has a few tall tales to tell. Dressed in a roll-neck sweater, he looks every bit the fisherman and, indeed, he can make even battered fish interesting. The venue is perfect for this low-key show. You walk up stark stairs, along narrow corridors and through several doors before entering a dark, dank, enclosed cavern with a curved roof. The sound effect of a deeply submerged submarine envelops you in sonar pings and silence. A screen where typed statements magically greet you sets the scene. It is intriguing. Eric appears. A mop of curls crowning a cheeky, bearded face, Eric has a way with the audience. He...

The Stand-Up Horror Show – Just the Tonic at The Caves

17Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Stand-Up Horror Show – Just the Tonic at The Caves

A cabaret of Horror goes horribly wrong when the intended act performing dies in a freak nail gun accident, with an eagerly awaiting audience the understudy is thrown on in a truly “the show must go on” moment of panic. Whilst this is the plot to the show it’s also very much how the show felt overall, under prepared and unrehearsed. Starting us off with a cheesy yet spooky voice over and an over dramatic mime on stage, one would think this show to be a silly: so bad it’s good performance, which I do think was the intention. For the first few moments of Tom Short’s set this idea is presented well, showing a nervous understudy who clearly is a little flustered and unprepared, played up for comedic value but unfortunately this one note is continued throughout. Whilst there are some funny m...

The Lovely Boys – Just The Tonic at The Caves

20Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Lovely Boys – Just The Tonic at The Caves

It’s very rare that a reviewer is left speechless after a comedy show but hours later, I’m still not sure what I had actually watched. The lovely boys are not your average stand-up comedy duo, in fact the show could better be described as a strange psychedelic dream crammed into a nightmare-ish underground vault. This is not a comedy style that would fit the masses, but then Mr Bean became famous because of his clowning antics, why couldn’t these two. The show is described by the duo as “one big hour of chaos glory” and they certainly aren’t wrong on the chaos part. Strange and disturbing character sketches had the audience wildly laughing almost as much as the two men had been laughing at themselves. Our primary characters “our two lovely boys” were the funniest part of the show...

Christof Epaminondas and Friend(s): Too Much Encouragement – Just The Tonic at the Caves

11Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Christof Epaminondas and Friend(s): Too Much Encouragement – Just The Tonic at the Caves

60 Minutes of pure comedy hosted by Christof Epaminondas and guest comedian Farah Sharp. In the small hot stuffy room of the Caves venue Christof and Farah had the room erupting with laughter from start to finish. I’m not sure if the guests change from day to day but Sharp was a fantastic warm up act. It’s hard to describe a comedy routine without too many spoilers but one can certainly say this one is not a “bust” (winking face). Epaminondas has the perfect level of charisma which makes him immediately likeable and knows exactly how to poke fun at himself for the audience without going too far. You don’t need to be Greek to relate to the friendly chaos that is his over encouraging family and I think we will be seeing a lot more of Christof in the coming years. He’s a natural at ...