Eleanorburgh Under Scrutiny

© benmeadowsphoto

As part of our Fulcher Fortnight, here are our editor’s thoughts on An Audience With Eleanor The Tour Whore - then wowing audiences in Edinburgh.

What remains to be said about An Audience With Eleanor The Tour Whore that has not already been covered here on this very website? It’s hard to add a fresh perspective on the show itself, considering our Velveteers have reviewed it so thoroughly previously.  Any further hints on the show’s content may spoil some of its surprises, yet even though I knew what was coming in many places, the show still managed to reduce me to tears of laughter throughout.

With next to no promotion – try and find the posters for the show in Edinburgh: they’re rarer than the sight of Vince Noir in a suit & tie – Rich Fulcher is now halfway through his Edinburgh stint as Eleanor, and so far, as the reviews begin to trickle out, the show seems to be dividing critics from various publications.  Some have fallen in lust with the show, others – most notably The Guardian reviewer – have been less than kind towards the performance.  Having visited Edinburgh for the opening weekend, and attended on the same night as the reviewers, I have to wonder if, in their freebie seats, they saw the same show as the rest of us who queued around the block to get in.

Naturally, one could be accused of bias.  After all, this is a website devoted to a group of comedians with a common bond – a bond from which this live show was spawned.  We are, perhaps, its primary target audience.  Yet when an audience of festival-goers, surely most of whom do not read the pages of this website, are laughing and cheering and clearly enjoying the performance, eagerly trying to grab an autograph or a photo with Rich after the show, its not much of a leap of the imagination to wonder if the reviewers had an agenda before they entered the building.

A rare poster sighting. © Paul Holmes

For what Rich Fulcher & Dave Brown have created with Eleanor’s show is, on the whole, a triumph.  Despite the character being a one-dimensional plot point in her first appearance in The Mighty Boosh, and nothing more than a dirty-mouthed bingo caller during the Future Sailors tour, the duo have realised that in order to sustain an hour of comedy, the character needs to be expanded greatly.  The danger could have been to simply write an hour of paltry innuendos, and, to be completely fair – there are a few of the ones that survived which fall slightly short of the mark, though others are so expertly crafted its hard to fault the pair for a couple of misfires.

Instead, they have made Fulcher’s character far more vulnerable than you’d expect.  Eleanor, for all her bravado and boasting, is a delicate, fragile woman on the edge, desperately trying to cling onto her golden past, blaming everything she can but herself for ending up embittered and alone.  Now of course, this isn’t a Samuel Beckett play… the show isn’t designed to bring you down, but Fulcher appears to have realised that some of  the greatest comic characters – from Harold Steptoe and Basil Fawlty to David Brent and Harold TJ Moon – are deeply embittered people who crave love and attention, but lack the fundamental people skills to even begin to develop relationships.

With that established, Fulcher has the ability to run riot.  He gets to lead the crowd in a chant-a-long reworking of I Love Rock & Roll, offers a unique 3-D experience to one (un)lucky punter, and torments any man gullible enough to sit on the front row in Eleanor’s grasping zone.  And as many who have seen Rich live before will attest (especially those lucky enough to see multiple performances on a Boosh live tour), he is at his best when ad-libbing.  I’m not sure how much of the performance is made up each night, but those who know Rich’s live persona well enough can see that little glint in his eye when he’s come up with something fresh, and just can’t resist trying it out to see if it gets a reaction.  He also attempts an audience Q&A, which must surely vary in reaction each night – depending on what kind of questions get thrown at him before the gag questions take control.

Admittedly, the show is far from perfect.  It’s hard to tell if the timing malfunctions were accidental, or as intentional as those the Boosh tours have used as gags, but they do add a ramshackle sort of charm to proceedings that perhaps only Boosh fans really seem to savour.  And perhaps the video clips could have been shorter, or more evenly spaced throughout the show, as they do take you out of the moment somewhat.  Yet the truth is, Fulcher & Brown have created as action-packed a show as a one-(w0)man cast can muster, that fully deserves to reach as wide an audience as it can.  Indeed, the only real flaw is with the choice of venue – as the Udderbelly is surrounded by loud bars and eateries which can actually be heard seeping through the walls of the giant purple cow throughout the performance.

In conclusion then, if you’re visiting Edinburgh before the end of the festival, and are considering watching Eleanor live, don’t let the reviews put you off.  If you go in with an open mind, and a feel for the kind of comedy that Rich is famed for, you’ll come out with a ginormous smile on your face and a satisfied feeling in your belly pouch.   The first true spin-off from The Mighty Boosh can hold its head up high, satisfied that its real audience will adore it, no matter what the newspapers want to say.