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A
Little Commitment
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1 Hope Place, Liverpool
August 30th 2012
Reviewed by
A Little Commitment is brought to Unity by
: a celebration
of disability and deaf arts in Liverpool. Comedian Gareth Berliner and
comedy actress Kiruna Stamell explore their relationship through anecdotes
and stories whilst shining a light on discrimination.
As the audience began filing into the theatre, real life couple Berliner
and Stamell, together with an interpreter using sign language, were already
in full flow. They chatted away with each other and the audience, encouraging
those heading for the back to sit closer to the front, and making fun
of those who were a little late. With the banter of a real couple, they
worked their way through first meetings, first impressions, friends, sex,
toilet issues, appearance, bullies, disabled people in film and orange
scousers, with amusing tales and jokes. Their creativity became apparent
when they cleverly used ‘wearing glasses’ as a metaphor for
any disability. I was very impressed with how the subject was handled
- very funny and relaxed but the message was clear and obvious. They successfully
highlighted how small-minded people can be.
Both Stamell and Berliner were instantly likeable. Stamell has a natural
comedic ability; she can tell a story with great aplomb, almost as if
she is a close friend who has popped round for a cup of tea and a gossip.
She got the biggest laughs of the night with her easy-going, honest approach
to her stories and jokes. Berliner too, has perfected his craft of stand
up. With confidence in his presence onstage, he easily manoeuvred the
story along, allowing his personality to shine and get the laughs rather
than using a heavily scripted routine. Both seemed to be winging it, with
off the cuff remarks and allowing themselves to go off on a tangent. This
of course, may well have been scripted, but it didn’t feel that
way and therein lay their success. The easy going, laid back nature of
the show was the making of it. Truly wonderful, very funny and a big success!
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