All It Takes is a new comedy show from Alexander Bennett, an award-winning Fringe regular. I’m reviewing from a very high-quality recording which allows for the video and text screens to be fully integrated into the show.
All It Takes opens with three members of the audience writing down what they have achieved and putting it in a box on stage. From there, the show heads into existential panic, meal deals, and therapy pubs.
Bennett is a natural talker who quickly develops a rapport with the audience. He’s quick, quirky, and very funny, skipping from therapy for toxic men to the dignity of toilets and how to be ‘a good offer’ to any romantic partner.
Technology, of course, is a hot topic. A video insert about dating is amusing, ephemeral and perceptive. A section about luck vs looks is pointed, other material falls on the earthy side.
The vagaries of the English response, the lack of conversation on public transport, and how we deal with crisis and stress, ethics and trauma. Material gains are weighed against the opportunities given to us in life.
Selective vegetarianism, consensual threesomes, a vignette on a clown who may have blood on his hands, and the difference between wants and needs are all thrown in the All It Takes pot, which becomes ever more edgy.
It’s a strong show from a 30-something who recognises his own limitations and brings them into a very amusing act. He’s enthusiastic and inaginative, with a sharp mind.
Showing as part of the PBH’s Free Fringe, Bennett is nevertheless upfront about the financial burden about artists taking a show to Edinburgh.
5 stars.
Alexander Bennett: All It Takes continues at Edinburgh Fringe to 30 Aug.
I reviewed from a recording supplied by Alexander’s PR.