Gumshoe | New Wimbledon Theatre Studio

1940s New York. Detective Gummo Custer (AKA. Gumshoe) is dead. But how did this come to be? And, more importantly, who did it? Wait, Let’s go back to the beginning and work from there, as every good detective story does. Having previously evaded his grasp, Gumshoe has been waiting for his chance to catch the enneagram killer. Suddenly a mysterious woman walks through the door, there’s been a murder! With a named suspect and a conveniently placed letter, Detective Gumshoe is on the case…

This one man show made its debut this past February at The Big Difference in Leicester, as part of Leicester Comedy Fest, to positive reviews. It has since been to various venues around the UK including the Museum of Comedy and the Actors Theatre (as part of Brighton Fringe). The show is next due to be performed at ACT Theatre (run by the charity Creative Youth) before heading to the Gilded Balloon for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. 

The show really suits the black box setting of the New Wimbledon Theatre studio, it seems to add to the design aesthetic of the classic black and white detective film. Speaking of which, the set itself is very simple, a table and chairs are set up centre stage, props are well hidden about the space and news articles are displayed on the side walls. By being so stripped back, the set gives space for the clowning and physical comedy to really shine through. Not to mention that the news articles line the walls of the staircase leading up to the main stage space, which creates so much intrigue before we’ve even entered into the world of the show. 

Christian Dart, writer and performer, really shows off both his comedy skills and his knowledge of classic detective stories in this show. It’s so well structured and paced that the hour goes by so fast.

We particularly enjoy that the comedy in the show is used to make a commentary on the gender stereotypes portrayed in these films. The detective is a brooding guy who is aware of toxic masculine stereotypes yet he still conforms to them! He smokes and makes bad attempts to hide his feelings over his loss of Andrea Pandrea and points out the lack of a good male role model in his life…yes, it's the forties but he’s here to say that the times need to be more progressive and we need to stop assuming that the culprit is a man. Yes, surprise, women can be just as deadly, if not more so because they are so frequently underestimated in this genre. 

Also, whilst there have been a lot of changes, there still seems to be a lack of healthy male role models, which thankfully more and more shows like this are starting to pick up on and add to the dialogue. 

So what does the comedy actually consist of? Snappy one liners and terrible, almost dad-joke like puns mixed with a dose of sketch, clowning, improv and physical comedy. Let's look at the facts of the case.

The improv consists of audience participation. That’s right, this show does involve a lot of audience participation and, whilst there is no pressure to get involved, sitting in the back row won’t protect you. From inviting an audience member to relay the details of the case to getting audience members to make bird noises and fire water pistols at him, Dart creates a very playful and collaborative atmosphere that we have the best time being a part of. 

Whilst sketch is the mode of the story, there are some sketches within the sketch, giving it a meta element that meets the generic conventions of the detective genre, in addition to the narration that happens throughout. We particularly enjoy the scene in which a car chase turns into a Mario Kart reference and find ourselves crying with laughter into the spiny shell that we caught when it was sent flying through the audience. 

Dart clearly has a lot of charisma and stamina to keep up with the level of audience participation and energy that this show has. He really does give it his all, imbuing his physicality with a clear attention to detail and an understanding of the power of body language to convey character. Given that there are so many elements of different types of comedy in this show, it's a very effective choice to play towards the more fundamental side of clowning. He reacts expressively with his audience, actively encourages laughter and isn’t afraid to embrace failure, all key elements of clowning. 

A dynamic and energetic take on the classic detective story fuelled by charismatic clowning that will have you in stitches. Case closed.

★★★★★ (5*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review