James & Jamesy: Easy as Pie
Easy as Pie is the new title for last year’s Right This Way. Ordinarily, no matter how much I like a show, I would let a few years pass before I would see it again. But as I didn’t review this show last year, and as it has been polished with some help from some impressive mime coaches and psychologists, I decided to make an exception in this case (I really enjoyed this show last year). I was curious to see if I could discern any changes to the show, but owing to the limitations of my memory, I couldn’t definitively say yes or no. What did catch my eye was how well they performed the mime bits of the show. At one point, James is tugging on an imaginary rope and at another time, Jamesy is digging a hole with an imaginary shovel. In both instances, you could easily imagine that they were holding the imaginary props.
This show marked a departure from the duo’s “Tea shows” in which they first appeared at the Fringe. While still filled with plenty of funny silly physical comedy, in this show, costumed as clowns, they are also telling a story. The story revolves around one of the most universally recognized comic motifs, the pie in the face. For some reason, unknown to himself, Jamesy will not allow James to put the pie in his face. I doubt that any comedy show has put the pie in the face motif to such versatile use. As Jamesy’s evasions of the pie continue through the play, the tension builds. Will the pie find Jamesy’s face?In my opinion, this is James and Jamesy’s best show to date. I was spellbound for the entire show. The physical comedy was performed to near perfection and the script was filled with witty dialogue delivered with excellent comic timing. As well as laughing a lot, I found the pathos, as Jamesy struggles to get to the root of his problem, touched me more noticeably this time around. This is clearly a case of “a rose by any other name”. This is a great show, whatever the title. Go see it again or see it for the first time.