As the poster for  Raymond Crowe’s Unusualist show suggests, tonight’s performance is family friendly, and at 7pm on a Friday night at the Atheneum theatre there are families-aplenty.

Kids at a comedy show;
Not exactly filling me with enthusiasm;
The lights dim and over the P.A. comes cheesy new age music and my heart sinks further;
Please god, don’t let this be a wiggles show with magic tricks;
On stage walks an unassuming man wearing a tuxedo with tails and a sad smile…

This man proceeds to dislodge all my expectations with a show based on shadow puppetry, magic tricks and an unseen baby in a box. Make no mistake Raymond Crowe is a master performer. His shadow puppetry skills are spectacular and as a ventriloquist using audience participants as his puppets his timing and comic voices are hilarious. But it is the adult concepts, characters and innuendo that he smuggles to his act that have you slapping your leg with hysterics.

There are moments when Raymond resorts to straight Las Vegas style sleight-of-hand trickery which did bring on the yawns but I understand that he’s playing to his audience and they loved it. Furthermore, I realised what I suspect all parents know, which is that sitting in a room with children while they laugh with wonder and enchantment is in itself an awesome feeling. What can I say , I walked in a cynic and walked out with a little bit more shine in my eyes.

If you have kids and want to include them in the festival then go and see Raymond Crowe.

Finished reading this article? You might also like:

• Raymond Crowe
• Daniel Oldaker – Live Flavor
• James Galea – I Hate Rabbits