Tom Neenan: The Andromeda Paradox

This feels like a parody, but it's hard to say of what. It's a one-man comedy narrative about a stuffy academic who becomes embroiled in a world of espionage, extraterrestrials and time travel. It has its roots in science fiction, but ultimately touches on so many genres that its intentions seem obscure and unfocused.

Tom Neenan presents The Andromeda Paradox as the kind of outlandish Boys Own adventure favoured by The Penny Dreadfuls, whose David Reed acts as director here. It's set within a quintessentially English world of inflexible gender roles and rampant xenophobia, Neenan throwing himself into an array of archaic characters. Whether embodying moustachioed men in tweed blazers or eccentric German botanists, his comedic voice remains consistent. The hour is an overwhelming torrent of wordplay and one-liners, each of which would hit the mark were it not such a struggle to follow the intentionally convoluted narrative.

Delivered at breakneck pace, Neenan's gags scarcely have room to breathe. The performer is to be admired for the density of his writing and the madcap energy he harnesses, but there's no escaping the sense of him rushing through the show. We can only wonder what even stranger avenues the star would explore if he allowed himself time to expand on his comic conceits. As accomplished and amusing as The Andromeda Paradox is, the work is haunted by its own sense of possibility.