By Peter Maddern
Richard Gadd has made his name as a comedian; his last show at the Edinburgh Fringe (Monkey See Monkey Do) saw him win that year’s Edinburgh Comedy Award. Baby Reindeer is this year most certainly rightly placed as theatre; an intense, tightly woven affair about stray relationships that can turn from fun to sour to frightening as the pleasures of random sex morph into stalking warfare.
Whether the story is true or a concoction is not obvious, maybe it is, as the program notes, a mix of the two but there is a certain conviction and lack of the droll to suggest this is more autobiographical than a work of pure fiction.
Beyond the mysteries of the works is the marvel of the production, successfully taking on the performance complexities of the Roundabout and making everyone there feel very much a part of it all. From sitting amongst us in the available aisles, to the rapid fire emails and texts that flicker onto the ceiling flaps above to the use of a rotating stage, Gadd proves this is no ‘one man’s confession – take it or leave it’ but a work of a skilled actor and performer.
Gripping story and brilliant delivery make for a riveting hour or high quality theatre.
Kryztoff Rating. 4.5K
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