BedFest
Mack the Knife and Scotland the Bollocks
Bedlam Theatre
Run Ended
Last week saw the return of Bedlam Theatre’s well-established annual festival, BedFest, an
event that celebrates the wealth of student talent found on campus. The weeklong festival,
which was comprised of ten productions and a multitude of free workshops run largely by
Bedlam staff, was a feat of endurance for the theatre team and will help to fund forthcoming
shows.
There were a wide variety of performances on offer, from improvised show Making a Murder
to the horror-comedy hybrid Spookapalooza, which is indicative of the university’s theatrical
diversity.
Mack the Knife, an original play written and directed by student Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller,
proved just how extensive the talent is under Bedlam’s roof. It is fair to say that, had it not
been revealed, the audience would’ve assumed it were written by an individual much further
into their career. Short but sweet, this inaugural performance was a classic murder mystery, a
‘noir dark comedy’.
Upon entering the theatre, the audience was confronted with a jazz band, playing on a dimly
lit stage. Absorbing us, particularly with the talent of pianist Will Briant, the band played and
chatted most naturally before the house lights dimmed and we were treated to a three-song-
long tribute to jazz music, featuring the sublime voice of Jo Hill, who played villainous Lady.
A play of only three characters, the narrative twists and turns until the killer is finally
revealed. Suspense builds as shy, innocent Deacon, played by Jacob Brown tries to present
his fear whilst useless detective Foster, played by Paddy Echlin, points the finger at everyone
but the killer.
For a debut performance, Mack the Knife offered a great deal and shone a spotlight on the
exciting future of Bedlam’s original writing.
Another show featured at the festival was Ross Baillie’s stand-up routine, Scotland the
Bollocks, an entertaining exploration of the myths and lies that have been adopted into
Scottish culture. The show was vaguely reminiscent of the children’s TV programme
‘Horrible Histories’, in the sense that it was factually sound, included a few costume changes,
and a token (if somewhat pitchy) musical number. There the similarities ended however as
Baillie embarked on a profane yet enlightening account of the myriad of misrepresentations
Scotland has suffered throughout the centuries.
Baillie was quick to engage with the audience which certainly paid off as his repartee with
those on the front row produced some of the most authentic quips of the evening. Particularly
entertaining was his sequence on the evolution of the kilt using three lucky members of the
audience as models.
While he perhaps relied overly on the bollocks-based humour, Baillie prevented his set from
falling flat through the use of well-timed images and sound effects. Despite some technical
difficulties, the slideshow that accompanied the routine was generally well received and even
landed many of the bigger laughs of the evening; the cleverly constructed Twitter war
between two 18 th century novelists for example had the whole audience in stitches.
Sadly, Baillie needed to refer to his prompts on several occasions giving the sense of a
heavily scripted rather than off-the- cuff routine, and while there is no harm in that style of
stand-up it probably would have served him better had he been more polished. That being
said, his ability to remain composed and crack jokes about his poor memory helped to
counter the sometimes-mechanical delivery of the material.
Once again Bedlam theatre leaves us sufficiently wowed at the volume of burgeoning talent
on offer. The Student looks forward to another semester of performances far surpassing the
realms of amateur theatre.