The Hermitude of Angus, Ecstatic

The Hermitude of Angus, Ecstatic arrives in Edinburgh amid much confusion and excitement. Confusion over that garbled title; excitement because it won best comedy show at last year’s Melbourne Fringe.

Now that it is here, the only confusion is over why this diamond of a show is hidden in the depths of the Underbelly instead of being placed on a pedestal. It is a show to warm the laughing gear, dancing feet and the heart.

Vachel Spirason is Angus, a comic creation that is both lovable and pitiful. It betrays nothing to tell you that he dies alone, aged 72, in the same bed he had when he was eight.

Angus’ demise is treated as a mere footnote. It is his savant-like wonder and maniacal joy that sets the tone for the hour. With minimal dialogue but maximum expression (plus a plummy Jackanory voice-over), Angus shares his life story. With his bobble-hat firmly in place he spends it trying to find a pattern within the universe.

Unlike Einstein, another gifted individual who searched for a Theory of Everything, this quest leads him not to fame but to a lonely life observing people on park benches, battling his mischievous and moustachioed alter-ego and asking the audience to eat paste off his finger.

Spirason plays Angus with clownish intensity. He zips about the stage with an infectious, unpredictable gallop. Instead of wallowing in the news of his timely and unsensational death, Angus invites the audience onto the stage to join him in his favourite activity: dancing. And they all do. It’s a fitting tribute to an electrifying character and show.