Count Arthur Strong review – fuzzy logic and cosmic nonsense

Leicester Square theatre, LondonAt every turn, the confused ‘astronomer-in-chief’ gives us something to marvel at – from crap ventriloquism to the films of ‘Dustbin Hoffman’At least in the colloquial sense, Count Arthur Strong has always been a space cadet – floating as far from reality as ever Illya Kuryakin did from Earth’s sugar-free gum. If that doesn’t make the slightest sense, the Count’s fuzzy logic – abundantly on display in this new show about the cosmos – must be catching. Is There Anybody Out There? is another wonderful set from Steve Delaney as the malaproping “nutty old bloke”, now bidding to supplant Brian Cox (or should that be George Formby?) as the nation’s astronomer-in-chief. One doubts the BBC’s “director-colonel” will take the bait, but there’s no question that this is another stellar performance by the confused Count.If there is a criticism you could level at Delaney’s shows – beyond the backhanded compliment that they can be as excruciating as they are entertaining – it’s that they work to a familiar formula. The Count will struggle to perform unlikely songs: tonight, he opens with Starman by “David Essex from Mutiny on the … Buses!” There’ll be vaudevillian physical comedy, like the business with the spectacles in his pockets. His crap ventriloquism will feature, as per a chat with Captain Sulky, the first monkey in space, which descends into a sub-Planet of the Apes interspecies bun fight. Continue reading…
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