Preview – Edinburgh Festival Fringe – Man Feelings Venue 259 Jekyll & Hyde

Man Feelings, Laughing Horse Free Festival

Venue 259, Jekyll & Hyde

‘Ari Porter’ Exposes Edinburgh-Born Comedians’ Conspiratorial Cunning Plan To Snook A Cock At The Suffocating Orthodoxies Of Male Gender Stereotyping.

Fed-up of teaching your grandma not to cry over spilt eggs after the gift-horse she’s just sucked in the mouth has bolted? Then why not try the frisson of ‘Free Fringe’, comedic entertainment promised by ‘Man Feelings’?

Crafted in Bournemouth University’s seething cauldron of cutting-edge comedy where, day and night, the laboratories of laughter patent new potions of giggles and guffaws, James Cottle & Kevin Kennedy, bring their mutations of mirth divertissement, ‘Man Feelings’ to an Edinburgh stage for its debut run. As with all ‘Free Fringe’ gigs, the clue is in the name. No tickets, no door fee. You like the show, you give them a bung. If you don’t, you give them a bung anyway. It is the inevitable antidote to visiting troupes being bled rotten by ever increasing venue fees where even a run of full houses rarely recoups the outlay.

Rather frighteningly, Cottle & Kennedy’s ‘60km per hour sketch-show’ claims it will remove the ‘safety-net of our inhibitions…dazzle and excite us’ with ‘ a fresh blend of unique characters/ridiculous scenarios and (provide) ‘startling candid expressions of male naivety.’ But, men always say that, don’t they?

Ever ready to poke an investigative stick in to the wasp’s-nest contentious agenda of gender politics, The Edinburgh Reporter caught up with the ‘cantankerous couple’ during a rehearsal break where tempers were becoming decidedly frayed. At issue was the director’s insistence that they would need to draw a professional line between exploring their feminine side on stage but not crossing it later when impressionable pretty media interns came backstage after the show. With Stanislavskian method tantrums put aside, The Edinburgh Reporter went on the attack will all buns glazing.

ER. Tell us about how the show came together? What’s it all about? Men behaving sadly?

MF. Originally we tried introducing a self-help for men programme into our native Bournemouth, however “self-help” is an inherently selfish concept, and people soon realised they could cut out the middle-man and sort their own lives out without us. So instead we decided to just be a bit silly on stage for an hour every day.

ER. You’ve trialled at least one performance with a favourable response – is the show still evolving?

MF. The first performance also acted as a tester; we had great fun after the show talking with people, finding out what worked and what didn’t. We’ve applied feedback to the show while also making changes of our own. The show is a living thing that will never stop changing until we finally perform it in Edinburgh.

ER. Tell us why you chose the Free Fringe for your debut outing?

MF.  Performing at the Fringe is a staggeringly exciting opportunity, particularly for a debut show. There was a bit of a “jump in headfirst at the deep end of the Pacific Ocean with nought but some rope and a whistle” mentality about it, but, from the festival’s reputation, we know it’s a risk worth taking.

ER. In five words tell the readers why there will ever remain a black-hole in their comedy psyches if they miss the show!

MF. Don’t deny your man feelings.

So there you are, You takes your choice but don’t have to pay the money. Though that would be a serious lack of feelings, Man!

John Kennedy

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