Review > Comedy review: Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre
Meet two socks with dreams. The duo who make up the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre want to make it big on the box, so present the audience with suggestions as to genres in which they might gain a toehold. These include historical drama, sport, cookery, gardening and finally, biopics, at which point we get to suggest the subject for the final playlet.
At the show I saw, the 'winner' was Anthea Turner, and sock puppet supremo Kevin Sutherland came through with a delightfully scurrilous portrait of the presenter, complete with instant two-verse song. The wit was no surprise, after the previous hour of tomfoolery in which the socks - who've been stocking up on new gags all year - had the audience in stitches. The relationship between our stars is very much Eric and Ernie/Abbott and Costello, with the straight man trying to run the show while the partner messes around. But the timing is more complicated, given there's just one performer having to converse with himself, while bouncing off an audience he can't see.
Along with the skits come comedy songs, such as the reinterpretation of Eric Clapton's Layla as Vuvuzela and it's quite the eye opener to watch a sock handle a guitar. And the puns are glorious.
I'm trying hard to unravel the secrets of the socks here, and fear I'm going to kill the frogs by dissection (actually, they do look like little grey Kermits). Get your own socks on, pop down to the Teviot and discover the magic for yourself.
