Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016 REVIEW: Matt Forde: It’s My Political Party (and I’ll Cry if I Want to) ****
A week, Harold Wilson once said, is a long time in politics.
For Matt Forde, the unexpected outcome of June’s Brexit vote meant a quick re-work of a show that is selling-out faster than some of the politicians he looks to bring to account throughout the show.
In his opening statement, Forde thanked the current political jungle for changing almost every day just to keep things interesting, and despite his clear ambition for an outcome favouring remain in the recent EU referendum, his rapier wit and intelligence shines through to give an equal kicking across the political spectrum of those in charge.
Forde’s impressions of a bumbling Boris Johnson and a strutting Gordon Brown of Referendum fame are remarkably uncanny. I wonder what Brown’s former Parliamentary buddy Alistair Darling (Baron Darling of Roulanish to you! Ed.) thought of the comedian’s depiction from the back of the Cabaret room…
The rather tedious campaigns used on both sides of the Brexit campaign were equally dissected by Forde before moving on to the fall out and what lies ahead.
Forde pulls no punches either when observing that every Government needs a strong opposition. In Jeremy Corbyn, he notes, they have a man who can’t even think of six questions for the weekly charade that is PMQs and he has to crowdsource them instead!
The session of insightful entertainment for political geeks and those mildly interested in the subject matter alike comes to an end courtesy of Forde’s amusing closing statement, which he reads before departing like an outgoing politician through the black-out curtain at the back of the stage.
The show, at The Pleasance Cabaret, runs until August 28th. Limited tickets are still available through the EdFringe website