“This is my own Titanic musical in proportion to my interest in the Titanic,” comedian Jordan Brookes explains early in his show Fontanelle, currently playing at Soho Theatre. “It could be six seconds, it could be two minutes.”
Written in response to a somewhat disastrous birthday trip to the Titanic musical in Southampton, the musical interludes in Brookes’ show are woven (or it may be more accurate to say thrown at random) into a comedy set exploring masculinity, vulnerability and ageing through the lens of the Titanic.
Brookes, barefoot and wearing a tiny captain’s hat, writhes about the stage, determined to provoke a reaction from his audience even (or perhaps especially) if this is discomfort. He regularly probes which jokes are getting the biggest laughs and why (including a running theme of whether it’s OK to laugh at 9/11) and brings in a generous amount of improvisation through audience interactions.
He is clearly in his element during these and they are some of the highlights of the show, as are the musical ‘scenes’, which at times are even shorter than the promised six seconds as characters enter, speak a single line and then vanish, and at times stretch to full musical numbers, with music and lyrics from Jake Roche and choreography from Jessica Simmons. Of these, the song ‘Such Brave Boys’ is a standout, with a catchy tune and a neat tie-in to Brookes’ overarching themes.
For the musical sections of the show, Brookes is joined onstage (sometimes for the briefest of moments) by five additional cast members, includingRosalie Minnitt who has an early start turn as a hag carrying some letters and Jake Roche who also contributed music and lyrics to the piece.
Lighting from Dan Carter-Brennan includes the use of lighting wands which create a backdrop reminiscent of both shipping lanes and the prow of a ship itself, while the mostly-bare stage is supplemented by props from Pat Cahill including the actual prow of a ship and a stool too tiny to sensibly sit on.
Fontanelle takes a moment to find its feet, but once Brookes gets into his stride it is sublime, and the laughter echoing around the walls of the Soho Theatre is testament to his brilliance.
Jordan Brookes: Fontanelle runs at Soho Theatre until 1st March.
★★★★☆ (4*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Jennifer Forward Hayter
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