The four fresh-faced men that are Aisle 16 are very clever indeed. They have found a unique comedy concept – a poetry boyband that will restore poetry to its rightful place at the centre of pop culture.
Deferring to the connoisseurs of modern pop culture – pre-teen girls – Aisle 16 strip poetry right back to its bare bones so that it may be reborn sleeker, faster and immensely dumber.
The boys are the embodiment of the boyband image. They have the hair, the attitude, and the clothes that scream ‘Boyzone’ in a thousand languages across the globe. Immersed fully in their personas, they exude undiluted pop-stardom. There is only one problem; pop-poetry aimed at pre-pubescent children does not work for most adults.
With their intimate venue equipped with audio-visual aids to transform each poem into an MTV experience, the show gets off to a great start. The boys deliver a fast-paced and punchy ‘tutorial’ on how poetry can be re-invented to be cool, entertaining and, wait for it, educational!
The fabulous four cover a diverse range of bizarre topics from terrorism to electricity pylons with the depth and maturity you would expect of a sixteen year-old boyband. Unfortunately the irony of their pop-poetry gets very tired after half an hour and by the end of the performance you may find yourself desperately craving work with some depth and substance.
Aisle 16 play the part of a boyband to absolute perfection from the stage names they use to the subtle details of their body language. They stay true to the concept of the show from beginning to end, so very unfortunate that the concept fails to fully deliver.
3/5
Matthew Straw
