Mark Stephenson: Amsterdam

Free Fringe shows don’t come a lot Fringier than this. Mark Stephenson describes himself as an “aspiring comedian”, and he’s very much of the self-aware, self-referential, indie school that often finds its audience here. His set makes reference to the sort of grand narrative shows that often bag an award, then denies us such a neat journey and instead takes us on a series of scenic routes down interesting backstreets and alleyways.

He tells us right at the start that “all comedians lie” and that he wants to do something honest. So a central figure is his estranged father, a short, burly South African who loved the younger Mark in a rather clumsy and incurious way, failing to recognise his individualism and instead boasting to family friends about his “big back”. This, and Stephenson’s lifelong struggle with selective mutism, form a central strand to the show, which is really a series of curious vignettes strung together into a rough plotline.

There are some nicely bizarre asides, such as a recurring motif in which Stephenson reads from a biography of Michael Barrymore written by his ex-wife Cheryl, the extracts made haunting and sad by the use of Radiohead's 'Talk Show Host' as a soundtrack. It’s mostly amusing, meandering stuff but there are some choice one-liners along the way: Stephenson muses at one point on the emotional state of men, “constantly ferrying between boredom and arousal”.

The revelations of the last five minutes are hilarious, as Stephenson plays with our expectations of this sort of show. Stephenson isn’t yet what you’d describe as accomplished, but this is a curious and diverting treat.