Tom Allen
Tom Allen is the master of the pointed question, the cheeky put-down and the witty response
Theatre Royal
Having played second fiddle to Jo Brand and Alan Sugar for a few years, it's not surprising that Tom Allen has been able to attract a larger live audience, but nonetheless two sold out nights at the Theatre Royal is an impressive step up for someone that, until recently, I considered a niche comedian who might confidently fill the playhouse, but not much more. Not that this is the overnight success it might appear. Back in 2007, Allen was telling stories at the Fringe, having just won the BBC New Comedy Award, for less than a tenner. Ten years later, as recently as 2017, he was still plugging away in Edinburgh. Which is not to say he doesn't deserve his success - just that a combination of talent and telly does you no harm at all.
Someone yet to reach such giddy heights was Allen's support act, Louise Young, introduced by him with a generosity that belied his misanthropic stage persona. She introduced herself as half Turkish, half Geordie, all lesbian, and much of her routine revolved around those three points of reference. Her stories of growing up in South Tyneside proved a welcome contrast to Allen's dandyish upbringing, and while her material generally ploughed a familiar furrow, her winning personality did much to excuse a relatively low gag rate. Towards the end of her set, she confessed that her closing anecdote made much more sense if we had been privy to her usual, darker material. Given that the story revolved around Gazza's empathy with her car crash of a lifestyle, I couldn't help wondering if she had an altogether more challenging, and therefore more engaging, set up her sleeve. She should have trusted us with it.
Before the interval, Tom Allen returned, and swiftly demonstrated why he's so good on the Bake-off and Appentice off-shoots. Simply put, he is the master of the pointed question, the cheeky put-down and the witty response, as fertilising front row Steve amongst other found out. Even up in the circle no one was safe, as Dave, apparently a business curtain specialist, discovered. It was all good natured, though - jocular fun with none of the buttock clenching awkwardness that audience banter sometimes elicits. In between engaging with the audience, he went off on rants of increasing intensity, be that the horrors of on-line shopping, cookies, robots and all things Internet. Hardly cutting edge stuff, but carried off with considerable aplomb.
After the interval, Allen used his move to a new home as a vehicle to discuss his childhood, when he was bullied, his boyfriend and their holidays, and even the death of his father. If that sounds a heady mix I can assure you it was all delivered with the same, high octane intensity, leavened with camp innuendo and straight forward silliness. There's precious little silliest in the world today, and Allen is to be commended for bringing camp tomfoolery to the stage. I doubt his faux fury at the complexities of buying a bed fooled anyone, but that was never his intention. Back the day, the likes of Larry Grayson or John Inman were vilified as caricatures, and perhaps they did "put it on", but their acts were entirely without malice. What a pleasure it was to see a gay man not only reclaim, but celebrate, his innate campness with a fearlessness and openness his forefathers would have thought unimaginable.
I will confess to occasionally growing weary at being shouted at quite so relentlessly, and I remain disappointed at getting no closer to the "real" Tom Allen. There were times in his routine, particularly when his Dad cropped up, that I thought we got close to something more poignant but it wasn't to be. The mask rarely slipped. I strongly suspect that Tom Allen is a caring sensitive man that is capable of handling complex issues with intelligence and empathy. If I'm right, and he simply chooses to keep that side of himself a secret, I suppose I must begrudgingly accept that's his prerogative.
