As we stroll through the doors of the Teviot Nightclub we are greeted with an oblong of black card and, as we sit down, a plume of smoke further mystifies us. With the room and audience suitably prepped for the hour of secret society fun, the lights dim and the investigation begins.
Both McClelland and Leung enter dressed as monks; they have now shed the skin of the performer to become brothers in their own secret society, which they have been trying to build for the last 10 years. Ultimately they just want friends.
Once they have shed the cassocks, they begin to initiate the audience through the medium of ‘’sacred PowerPoint” and guide us through the societies both passed and present that have affected not only their keen minds but also a selection of countries around the world.
Leung plays the straighter and sometimes more nervous lecturer to McClelland’s knowledgeable drunk whirlwind of enthusiasm. In this they are very watchable, and the effects and animation are purposefully quite make shift and therefore easy to manipulate. They often break from the information they have garnered (which is clearly well researched) to undercut either the flow or (more often) each other. This had a tendency to feel a bit forced on occasion, which makes them come unstuck with McClelland being pointedly more spirited in his explanations.
Maybe Leung was not happy being the so-called straight man. Maybe he was caught off guard by McClelland’s interjections. Or maybe he was genuinely scared of the Freemasons reeking revenge via the illegal video evidence of an audience member behind me. I’m not laying any blame at his door, as he is an interesting fellow and always watchable, but it felt as though he wasn’t playing to his strengths and forcing himself to have command when he should trust he already has it.
In summary then, this is a good show but a little unbalanced. They are both keen intellects and erudite performers. The idea and set up of the show is strong and silly in equal measure, with amusing asides and good visual shenanigans. Oh, by the way, I’m a Gnome of Karaoke, what are you?
3/5
Peter Rates
