Tom Skelton - Blind Man's Bluff
I'm starting September off with one final post about the Fringe.Now, I realise that this festival ended on Monday but, after seeing Tom Skelton again, I felt I had to write a full-length review of his show.
Seeing Tom for the second time in his incredible performance as several different characters only made me love it more.
He begins the experience in costume as one of the main characters, an optometrist who is integral to the stories told throughout. Dr Ryley ushers you into the room to begin the final lesson and, once inside, you are transported into being in the optometry 'Class of 2017'.
In this particular show, my friend and I were having a pivotal discussion about the pronunciation of the word 'scone'. This included me turning to the woman next to us and asking her for her opinion. When I got even more confused, I asked Tom and he seemed to agree with us that the way we'd all been saying it was the correct way.
After this brief interlude as people were filing into the last seats (including another of my favourite comedians and Tom's friend Chris Turner), the woman next to me joked that I should be in the show. That, of course, earned a laugh and an awkward smile from me as I responded to her that I 'suck at acting and things'.
Nonetheless, I ended up being in the show again.
More on that later...
Tom invites you into the show with a warm and friendly smile. Dr Ryley's jokes leave you questioning whether or not you can laugh but Tom gave us a nod that we could at least once during the show.
His different characters give you a walk through time and I truly enjoyed googling some of the people afterwards to find out more about them.
Samson and Delilah are two of the most interesting people whose lives we get to delve into.
What you aren't expecting is the musical element that comes along with the show. 'Samson' by Regina Spektor plays as Tom struggles to get into the slightly complicated (it has so many holes!) costume for this role. What I loved about this particular performance was the way Tom sang along to a little bit of the song, something I enjoyed as it felt almost as if we were witnessing a private moment for all of five seconds.
For this part, Tom picked a man from the middle area of the audience to play Delilah.
Samson made some pretty interesting hip movements while telling Delilah to ask him where the power of his strength comes from before 'we make love' and I (along with most of the rest of the people in the room) could not stop laughing. This may have been my favourite moment of the show.
After Delilah 'cuts' Samson's hair (aka pulls the wig off of Tom), Delilah is allowed to leave the stage and Samson continues with his story about how he was blinded by Philistines and smashed columns down upon them, killing many more than the people who had blinded him.
My favourite story however, purely because of Tom's portrayal, was that of King Bela 2nd of Hungary.
Tom kept this sketch in despite claims it was one of the 'weaker' sketches' as it has such a 'fabulous costume'. I don't understand why anyone would say this sketch was 'weak' as I found the whole section hilarious, as did the friends I saw Tom with (maybe Tom was joking about this and I'm simply gullible).
The title of this review is actually a reference to a line in this part of the show where he says 'He was a proper geezer' while making a joke about the fact that Bela's son was named Geza and rose to take the crown when he died.
I wish I had the words to explain this sketch but it is definitely something people have to see for themselves as his comical timing and interaction with his new queen along with the costume struggles as the crown from Argos began to give up made for so many laughs from the audience.
Once again, Tom picked someone out from the middle of the room and progressed alongside them. His truthful and historical facts about the different characters he'd included in his hour long show only made the jokes that much stronger.
The final part of Blind Man's Bluff was something I was expecting... Until it wasn't.
Tom began his search for Libby Clegg's (a Scottish Paralympic sprinter with a degenerating eye condition) guide and somehow it ended up being me.
Did I forget my name this time? No. I did not.
Did I blink rapidly a few times because I was terrified? Yes. I most certainly did.
Nevertheless, I stood up and got into my very fetching neon, reflective jacket. After a moment of reconfirming what I had to do with Tom, we linked arms and I zoned out of the rest of the room. This rarely happens to me but it was fun and I was focused on making sure neither of us tripped over the mini obstacles.
When I'd guided Libby (Tom) along and we'd 'won', I sat back down (after a brief struggle with the high-vis jacket - Tom was not the only one having difficulties with costumes that day).
The show ended with Thomas Skelton (more on him in a second) and his doctor hugging and Tom shifted to hold out a bucket so that people could donate money to a charity he supports called the Royal Society for Blind Children.
As I stood to leave, I wanted to linger a moment and tell Tom how incredible his show was but there were men behind me who had taken a step back to let Jane and I out so I simply left and talked enthusiastically with Jane as we made our way back to my flat.
One thing I haven't mentioned yet is that Tom himself is a character in the show and the basis for the storytelling of blind characters throughout history comes from his Doctor trying to make him feel better about what his happening to him.
The show, while being lighthearted and entertaining, gives you more than just a history lesson.
One of the first moments shows Thomas struggling after getting water in his eyes while swimming with friends. The water leaves him with cloudy vision and he realises there might be something wrong with his eyesight.
This takes us to Dr Ryley who explains to Thomas the condition he has and Thomas' reaction to it breaks your heart in seconds.
The point I'm making is that, while the historical references and jokes about how Thomas is going to find people attractive when he can't properly see them are funny, they also raise awareness for issues most of us might not have ever thought about.
The doctor makes a joke about the fact that, seeing as he can't actually see faces and features until he's up close to a person, he should have even more luck in meeting people as he won't be able to see them until it's too late.
Thomas, however, points out that moments in life (like seeing someone across a crowded room and the eye contact that proves so promising) are important in life.
What I hope Thomas later realises is that life is made up of a million and one moments and eye contact and sight is a large part of that for lots of people but that it is not everything.
Moments come from shared experiences and most of my personal favourites have come from my other senses, mainly touch (something as simple as holding someone's hand for the first time) and hearing.
The combination of audience interaction with perfectly timed jokes, hilarious costume changes and that final element of hard-hitting truth that made you realise there is so much we don't often consider in our daily lives turned Tom's show into an unmissable event.
I hope more people than me will go out and look into the conditions mentioned that affected either some of the characters Tom portrayed or Tom himself.
We need to educate ourselves on as many things as possible in this world so that we can be more accepting and greater as human beings generally.
I cannot wait to see Tom's show again next year. I know it will be brilliant!
Jessica
xoxo
- Go like it and follow along to Racing Minds' podcast - it's hilarious!
- For anyone who wants to learn more about the charity he was raising money for, you can find it both in the link above and also by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/RSBCcharity/
Please donate what you can or even simply just read about what they do or how you can support in different ways.
It all makes a difference.
