Luke Kempner in Gritty Police Drama: A One-Man Musical continues at the Pleasance Courtyard – Upstairs until 28 August 2023.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Luke Kempner, star of Spitting Image, Steph’s Packed Lunch etc etc, is of course best known as an impressionist, but he’s not only that: he is a fine singer. There are a number of songs in this show, mostly pastiches, some just flung into the plot because it is time for a song, and during the love-interest scene (there has to be one), the most amazing mezzo-soprano voice comes out of his larynx. “Didn’t expect that, did you?” he says with a wink.
Gritty Police Drama is a pastiche of every TV police drama you’ve ever seen and serves as a vehicle for his aim to do 60 impressions in an hour, though he’s not above cheating (at one point he makes the sound of a siren. “Is that one of your 60 impressions?” asks one of his characters. “Well… yes” replies another sheepishly). The most unlikely people turn up as police or the gang of criminals peddling an age-reducing drug: Sir Ian McKellen, Ant and Dec, Trump, a swathe of football commentators, and at least one who complains he’s no use to the plot but is there only to provide another impression. Kempner is somewhere in there as the Police Inspector trying to solve his last case before he retires. The fun is fast and furious, with sometimes five characters all speaking one after the other (I lost count). The plot is of course ludicrous, plot cliché piles upon plot-cliché, and at one point three of the audience are enlisted to provide the lighting (torches) for the dark scene.
It’s like watching an actor doing the pentathlon (or whatever the term for 60 events is). How Kempner keeps track, I’ve no idea. Early on he found himself doing the wrong scene and had to start again. Maybe he does that every performance, maybe not (he insisted not), but it doesn’t matter a hoot. He’s having fun and so is the audience.
It’s hilarious. One-liners flick in and out. Blink and you’ll miss them. Kempner is a very personable entertainer to be with. They even had to add another couple of performances. Recommended.
James Bryce
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