Sock Puppet

121329 original

John-Luke Roberts, the writer and sole performer on this consistently imaginative one-man show, begins by telling the audience that they will have to do most of the work – three-quarters, to be specific. This is actually untrue; there is a lot of theatre around, at the Fringe and elsewhere, that makes far greater demands on the audience's patience. Roberts, on the other hand, quickly renders us happy to play along, even when some of his gambits fail to pay off.

With the aid of sound effects played on audio cassette (which provide some of the show's simplest, funniest laughs), Roberts tells the story of Ralph Guiltless, an untalented and underachieving young artist who finds that one of his socks has been possessed by a ghostly presence. This lost soul is Pierre, a little dead French boy—although his thick Yorkshire accent raises suspicions on that score—who promises to use his supernatural abilities to make Ralph famous, and win over his dream girl. But in return, Ralph must help Pierre avenge his own death.

It isn't apparent until the end just how impressive the storytelling in Sock Puppet is, the apparently disparate threads of occult shaggy dog stories and surreal comedy all tying together in an unexpected manner. However, while Roberts is a talented comic actor, the tale he weaves feels a little cramped and slight within the confines of an hour; given a little extra breathing room, the impact may have been far greater.