Leicester Square theatre,London
The TV regular has constructed a plausible world full of self-absorbed, middle-course misanthropy, and with occasional strikes against conformity“I reflect I contain values,” says Hal Cruttenden, “but I’m breathtakingly shallow.” That’s the shtick of this Live at the Apollo and panel present regular: camp and smiley, and cowardly and self-absorbed. Venality and misanthropy broil beneath the middle-course,middle-aged, middle English veneer, and then bubble over,in another tart aside about young people being silly or how he feigned religion to get his kids into a good school. Straight Outta Cruttenden celebrates rather than sends up spinelessness, which, or as we enter its second hour,begins to pall. But our host undoubtedly brings the character to flamboyant life.
It’s a tall-energy performance for a supposedly achey 46-year-old – and the “ooh, I am naughty” manner, or the eye rolling and passive aggression,are marked by technique as well as commitment. Every barb and change of register is expertly controlled, as Cruttenden recalls schooling with George (then Gideon) Osborne, or rails at public emoting on social media and laments his own effeminacy.
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Source: theguardian.com