Original comedy with a compelling edge

“It can actually get quite suffocating living in the perfect world.”

Olly Hawes

Olly Hawes

Olly Hawes tells quirky stories which amuse and involve with dark undercurrents as his creative stream takes us off into other parts of his imagination. What we have here is comedy with richly imaginative elements.

With his tousled curly hair and penetrating blue eyes, I found I couldn’t take my eyes off him on stage.  He wears a blood stained T shirt like one of those in the first episode of a Murder Mystery, but how did it get that way?  He has bare feet despite the riff on how to choose a pair of socks. 

At the Riverside Studios, this is the second time we have reviewed him this year.  At Edinburgh he was compelling, urging us to rebook but his show is original, with different situations and predicaments without losing the psychological edge.  This revision gives him a freshness from the lack of repetition.

Olly Hawes. (Photo: Isabel Dixon)

F**king Legend is about masculinity and the preposterous that actually happens, engendering reflection and guilt. It is about a man with a girlfriend and two children, embarking abroad on a stag do, who meets a woman. 

The description of sex with the woman, “You can do to me whatever you want,” has Olly comprehensively describing the visual clichés.  Cut to nature’s images of orgasmic film sex.  His descriptions were so powerful, I thought I could see the scenes on the rear wall. I wanted to join in with the crashing of waves on a beach but instead kept seeing the terrible floods in Malaga. 

The second half of his show has a surreal aspect, there is a chain link fence, a train journey through a tunnel and driving along the coast there are cages with people in them.  This futuristic nightmare is delivered poetically and the punch line comes unexpectantly. 

Earlier in the show a long section has reminded us of the woes of the world, the wars, the environment, acknowledged but not dwelt upon.  There is plenty of movement in this show adding to the tension and excitement.

Don’t miss Olly Hawes’ descriptive writing, his high flying thoughts and internal monologues.  You will laugh and laugh and best of all, think! Superb!

Olly Hawes

Production Notes

F**king Legend
Written and performed by Olly Hawes

Cast

Starring:

Olly Hawes

Information

Running Time: One hour  10 minutes without an interval

Booking to 21st December 

Various Dates

Theatre:  

Riverside Studios

101 Queen Caroline St
 
 
Hammersmith
 
 
London  W6 9BN
 
 
Phone: 020 8237 1000
 
 

Website: riversidestudios.co.uk

Rail/Tube: Hammersmith

Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge

at the Riverside Studios

on 14th November 2024