Why Men Cheat

Based upon the results of over 250 interviews with self-confessed "cheaters", Irish writer and director Peadar de Burca brings Why Men Cheat to Edinburgh after a successful stint at the Dublin Fringe last year. However, after leaving this show, it’s not entirely clear what all the fuss is about. 

Why Men Cheat is a confused production that is not quite sure of whether it’s stand-up comedy or theatre, and thus suffers from not being particularly funny, nor dramatic, insightful or engaging. It lacks the spontaneity of stand up—its monologues feeling rehearsed and mechanical—while only dedicating a tiny proportion of time to basic theatrical conventions such as plot or character development. For the most part, de Burca and his co-star Brian O’Gibne bound around stage looking like they’re having a great time but at times this feels somewhat indulgent.

Underpinning this whole endeavour seems to be the mantra: “All men are bastards, aren’t they?” It’s a clichéd premise that gives rise to clichéd set pieces, for example a prolongued section in which de Burca laments the fact that women like to drag out arguments – surely an observation that has fallen out of use since the working-men’s club comics made it such a staple of their routines in the 1970s.

In a festival with over 2500 competing shows, there are certainly comedians out there with better battle of the sexes routines while the same is true of theatre productions dealing with the complexity of romantic relationships. There's not much compelling about Why Men Cheat that makes it stand out from the crowd.