Fest review of WILA

Richard Herring: What Is Love Anyway?
4 stars


By Malcolm Jack | Published 11 August 2011
After tackling the thorny subjects of fascism and religion respectively on his last two trips to the Fringe, Richard Herring this year takes aim at something close to all of our hearts but sufficiently intangible to be taboo テや namely love, an テや彗morphous and poorly definedテや concept he intends to テや彭estroyテや.

Isnテや冲 love, like religion, merely hokum to help us through this テや彙leak and pointless existenceテや? Sure, parents love their children, but arenテや冲 they just テや徭exual excrementテや inadequately disposed of?

Nihilistic as all that might sound, the content is largely subtler and more heartfelt than Herringテや冱 fans might be used to. Perhaps the 44-year-oldテや冱 edge has been softened by three years in a serious relationship テや even if that relationship has necessitated a Ferrero Rocher-related romantic gesture which, compounded by his poor grasp of exponential mathematics, may in time force him to enslave the entire human race.

Herringテや冱 reading of a poem penned by his 18-year-old virgin self greenly lambasting a lothario mate is priceless. As is a toe-curlingly awkward anecdote about being forced to watch an old Fist of Fun sketchテや琶n which he fantasised about keeping Julia Sawalah in a wellテや背ith his then girlfriend, Julia Sawalah.

He typically canテや冲 resist skirting the edge of good taste テや specifically with a routine about his Alzheimerテや冱-suffering granny. Yet its denouement is a serious and heartfelt statement about unconditional affection that has a few eyes welling-up. Of course Herring is softer-centred than all the cynicism suggests; material with trademark bite may be missed, but thereテや冱 an unexpected soulfulness to this show thatテや冱 difficult not to, yes, love.