Original Review:

Show Rating:

His challenge is to make up narrative rap operas based, very loosely, on the lives of audience members, with aid of his guitarist. As he quizzes his subjects before the music starts, he riffs around the information, with his active imagination producing plenty of offbeat ideas to incorporate into the raps, and his banter is always lively and engaging.

The man can bust a few rhymes, if that’s the right vernacular, and often forges some smart, inspired and witty couplets. But he’s not particularly disciplined about it, and will go off telling the story, only vaguely sticking to the rhythm and neglecting the tight rhymes that define the genre.

The lackadaisical approach is part of the charm, as you see him struggle to fit his flight of fancy around the discipline the music demands. People often like to see their improvisers work hard – it proves the show unplanned – and when a good line does emerge, it’s greeted warmly.

Over nearly an hour, however, the cracks begin to show. It’s only fun to watch someone grappling with the ambitious challenge for so long, but Abando’man offers four extended rapped stories, all stylistically very similar. The entertainment value of his grasping is subject to diminishing returns – and he seems to get less inspired with time, so the genuine good lines become thinner on the ground.

But Broderick is a very likeable performer – there’s a touch of fellow countryman Tommy Tiernan in his vigour – and not untalented at freestyle rap; though certainly not in the pros’ league either. But to sustain a full-length show needs more variety of pace and approach than is on offer here.

Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Brighton Fringe, May 2008