Liam Williams: Capitalism

This show is called Capitalism, Liam Williams says, "to keep stupid people away". As the hour references thinkers such as Žižek it wittingly flatters its assumed audience. But the subject matter is more interesting than that. It examines what it means to try and engage with capitalism as an all-consuming social force, and how critiquing its potency engenders only sloganistic and ineffective gestures.

Williams is an impressive performer, shambling around the stage, berating himself. His yearning for authenticity begets a confessional approach, and his stuttering pauses puncture his trajectory every time he seems to be getting anywhere. He acknowledges the demands an audience makes of a performer, referencing television programmes and video games in order to fulfil the required connection with a liberal audience. There's an awesome World Cup song (knowingly untopical), and unexpected gags stab and delight.

But the show seems too untroubled by its failure to deliver a message, when there's lived politics under the surface that could be fruitfully explored. The brutal ending demonstrates Williams's willingness to debase himself in service of the show, but this similarly underlines the fruitlessness in attempting to stand for something. Perhaps this is a deliberate response to his success last year, which resulted in Williams being seen as a voice of a generation. If that's the case it appears that generation has nothing to express other than angst and resignation. But Williams has more incisive and developed critiques to make than that, and when he stands up for them he'll be awesome.