Maff Brown - Looking After Lesal

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It’s natural for those of us with strong parental bonds to unconditionally see the good in those who have shaped us from birth. It is abundantly clear that Maff Brown, born to a family of similarly quirkily forenames, holds his parents in high regard. He regales his audience with anecdotes about them that never manage to hit any comedic highs, but are peppered with moments of good homely fun.

The titular Lesal is Brown’s father, and it’s the tumultuous relationship between these two men that ignites a spark of pathos that smoulders through Brown’s stories. Regrettably, the relevance of the father diminishes as the show crawls toward an ill-conceived finale. The narrative drive that Brown attempts to establish at the show’s opening quickly dissolves into a collection of tenuously linked quotations from the mouths of his family members. The problem lies in the fact that such pedestrian observations are just empty gestures when the audience does not share the same bonds of family. More than once, Brown’s over-familiarity with his characters leads him to forget to tell his audience whom he is talking about at a given moment.

Brown’s stage persona is engaging and genuine, if overwrought at times. His stint as a warm-up act for the TV chat show Loose Women is reflected in his delivery: his fast-talking brashness sometimes overwhelms the low-key, gentle humour of his act. He has charm in abundance, but his shoddily crafted act leaves his audience confused, underwhelmed and, ultimately, alienated.