WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2024

A Tale Told By An Idiot
Adam Laughlin in 'A Tale Told By An Idiot'.
Photo courtesy of Adam Laughlin

A Tale Told By An Idiot is one of those vivacious, tremendously paced and very witty takes on William Shakespeare that is at the very least unique and at the very most enormously inspiring. Tasked with ensuring that the work of an English Einstein – that's what I heard, anyway! – comes alive in a way we're not used to seeing, stand-up comedian Adam Laughlin brings his natural Derry-Londonderry accent, a copy of Shakespeare's Macbeth and a handful of props to the stage in the hope that his succession of genuinely clever concepts fully flourish in the creative confines of Belfast's Accidental Theatre. And flourish they do, with the help of what was a rather packed venue on the night I attended the show earlier this year.

If you're going to be greeted by the truly unfamiliar, which in this case is possibly one of the Bard's most quotable tragedies as stand-up comedy, then it helps to ease the audience in. So it's most welcome to hear gentle but mischievous bardic music, equal parts calming and funny, drifting through the air as we all take our seats.

Then, soon after Laughlin enters and introduces us into how exactly he is going to tell this story, we are posed one of many fascinating questions about Macbeth – if the witches three are able to meet again in "thunder, lightning or in rain", then why shouldn’t they be able to meet in the sun? This philosophising, combined with crucial elements of exposition and genuinely sincere monologuing, adds weight and contemplative breathing space to the many jocular sparks Laughlin finds within the pages of the play.

There's an especially hyperactive pace to it all, which, considering Laughlin has to keep it up for around three hours – don't worry, though, there's an intermission! – is hugely impressive. And there's a heartwarming level of modesty to the whole event - while Laughlin admits, according to my recollection, to not really learning the work as a whole, this nonetheless paves the way for a level of improvisation that contributes to increasing confidence and belief during the night.

What Laughlin does here, for me, is hint at the satirical eye one often casts over popular media, the kind made recognisable online by YouTube channels Honest Trailers and CinemaSins. In other words, the truth of how often real engagement with a work equates to equal parts cynicism and optimism. But perhaps most importantly, he gets to the heart of a novice's acclimatisation with truly great art, capturing the excitement one can only get from discovering a classic and then developing their own perception on it over a long period of time. To this day, I am still lost in, and finding, the nuance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Merchant Of Venice and that extremely famous musical adaptation of Romeo & Juliet based in Manhattan's Upper West Side, such is the strength of the material, and this kind of thing comes across frequently in the joy Laughlin expresses and receives. It's not solely about the power within the source, it's about how much power and passion that can be planted into an individual interpretation of the source – how you, and you alone, be you the performer or audience member, can "live" it. All while laughing and learning throughout the evening.

Simon Fallaha

A Tale Told By An Idiot returns to Belfast's Accidental Theatre on Friday November 8. For more information, and tickets, click here.