Review: ROUNDHOUSE COMEDY FESTIVAL OPENING GALA, Roundhouse

The iconic North London venue, the Roundhouse, has kicked off its very first Comedy Festival, running throughout August, The very first event promised a stellar line-up featuring a headline from Rose Matafeo, also featuring Catherine Cohen, Jordan Gray, Lolly Adefope, Rhys James, and Kiri Pritchard-Mclean. Unfortunately, much of the evening felt like we had interrupted early rehearsals of a different show.

Compere Kiri Pritchard-McClean, resplendent in a curtain of silver sequins, definitely held the evening together with shrewd commentary on audience members and constant efforts to gee-up a rather muted audience. Her observation that the crowd "smacks of a theatre mailing list" was both accurate and very funny. As the show went on, her energy contrasted hugely with some of the lacklustre displays on stage.

Rhys James made a reasonable start in the tricky position of first performer; thoughtful observations about his uncertainty of his position in the world due to having the same name as a famous footballer were overly long, but well crafted. His dislike for his friends' enthusiasm for the 'Wim Hof method' of taking cold showers was also astute and sharply done.

The wonderful Jordan Gray left the first section on a highlight; self-deprecating, witty and wise. She uses her unique perspective as an Essex-born transgender writer-performer to give a performance brimming with energy and fun. Those familiar with her Is It A Bird? show will be familiar with jokes about her Grandfather being told she was from Transylvania and her very funny song "Celia C."; the song about "a surprise": that she is actually suffering from coeliac disease. Gray may be repeating material, but at least she made a big effort when doing so.

A well-known face from her roles in Shrill and Ghosts, Lolly Adefope gave an absurdist performance as a writer giving a reading from her increasingly terrible and solipsistic novel. With a few clever skewerings of Gen-X introspection, this was a character that felt flat and not fleshed out.

Her next character was an awkward attempt at Ted Lasso. This was simply meandering and bizarre and not in a funny way. Her appearance smacked of a work in progress, not sketches carefully selected for a supposed gala. Anyone who has seen her perform before will know that she is so much better than this.

Hull-born Amy Gledhill was more polished if mundane. A story about her and her boyfriend becoming accidentally stoned in Pizza Express had some amusing lines, particularly about dough balls, but her jokes about her own breasts making honking noises when squeezed and how a man's erect willy pops out of his pants felt incredibly dated and wildly unfunny.

The usually fabulous Rose Matafeo was perhaps the biggest let-down of the night. Using notes and saying that you wrote this on the tube only works if the material is strong and this short set felt very much as though Matafeo couldn't really be bothered to entertain the audience. Her angst at recent breaks ups felt insincere and rushed. Although it's an inconvenient fact that people need to leave to get their trains, her repeated glances at her watch only exacerbated the idea that she was just popping in as a favour.

The Roundhouse Comedy Festival will run throughout August, with a closing gala on August 23. The line-up looks fantastic, with names such as Simon Amstell, Katherine Ryan and James Acaster; so there's certainly time for things to improve.

Roundhouse Comedy Festival continues until 23 August

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