Showing at the PBH’s Free Fringe, comic Christopher Beanland brings his work in progress show, Small Plates Ruined My Life to Edinburgh Fringe.
This recording of the show falls into chit chat with a noisy audience member, and Beanland admits from the start it isn’t going to be as personal as some comedians at the Fringe.
He’s from Yorkshire, Bradford to be specific, and his distant ancestor was a spokesman for the heat pump industry. Both are interesting routes for his routine.
Comedy at the grassroots is all about banter, cultural references, and dealing with hecklers. Small Plates Ruined My Life runs for around 40 minutes and shows Beanland to be a personable, quick, and funny comedian.
When Beanfield pitched this recording to me he described it as “the arguably funnier one where things go wrong and the audience is mad and laughing constantly”, so I keep that in mind as I watch.
At the Free Fringe, these shows don’t get the PR investment or media visibility, so are as important to support as those staged at the big venues. This show is staged at BrewDog, Lothian Rd, in a small room.
No bells and whistles, just one man and a microphone filmed with one camera. Technically, it is absolutely fine and even has subtitles. It’s like being in the room, soaking in the atmosphere.
It’s a gloriously silly show, touching on the problems of predictive text, the rise of Temu and their ‘golden egg’ discounts, and the general state of the world.
Beanland is the kind of comedian who can bring a visual idea to life through words. A former journalist, he clearly enjoys the power of language. He’s also very good at dealing with those interruptions, laughs at nothing, and even moments that go a bit off-piste.
Small Plates Ruined My Life is a fun show, despite being more half-empty than half-full in its drinking glass philosophy. He’s very British, very droll, very personable.
And if you’re wondering about the title, it is about the trend for small Plates and ridiculous foodstuffs in restaurants in Dalston (“where you can buy oatmeal and meth in the same shop”).
3.5 stars. This is an artist I’d love to see more of in the future when this show gains a tighter shape. There’s a section about Brutalist architecture that segues into health choices of the 1960s that feels fresh and open to further development.
Christopher Beanland: Small Plates Ruined My Life is part of the Edinburgh Fringe until 30 Aug.