Take their new subject, for example, man-made global warming: The Climapocalypse seldom reduces audiences to stitches. So a British reviewer is happy to report, then, that ''The End Is Nigh'' is the musical comedy duo’s most satisfying offering yet. Its songs are linked, for the first time, by a narrative, as Jonny Donahoe and Paddy Gervers relate what happened when the former recklessly promised his four-year-old niece that he’d save the world. It’s as broad, daft and punchy as all of their work, but here a lightly-worn moral seriousness brings ballast to the gags and gigglesome wordplay. That’s a welcome development, given that, hitherto, the duo’s self-mockery has tended to draw their political sting.
Of course, there are jokes here about the impotence of “two comedians from Reading” in the face of the climate apocalypse. But there’s something stirring in their refusal to submit to it. And I was oddly moved by their climactic rallying call, which proposes that acts of resistance, however childish, to the status quo are worth more than any grownup justification for inaction: “We’ll all stay alive / If we act like we’re five.”
No comments:
Post a Comment