Seymour Mace Niche as F*ck

★★★★
comedy review (edinburgh) | Read in About 2 minutes
Published 13 Aug 2015

"Niche" can mean a lot of things. Most of the time it refers to something arty, out-there and—whisper it—even pretentious. Seymour Mace is Niche As F*ck is a glorious collection of directions, none of them in any way pretentious – all attacked with gusto. He launches with a tirade against the industry he works in, coated with bitterness and the cynic's consolation card of "integrity". And when that's through he deconstructs his own opening, involving a Punch and Judy-style recreation, the first of many homemade props that speed the show along.

Mace is delightfully angry and ridiculously creative with sound effects and interruptions throughout, including one fabulous site-specific gag that has the audience in stitches. He draws you in as co-conspirators to his games, philosophising ingeniously. Pleasing himself as much as he's pleasing others with his ideas, here is a veteran skilfully combining anger with silliness and coming up trumps.

It's a shambles, but it's brilliantly put together, with as much attention given to the finer details of bespoke prizes and specially recorded jingles as to soft toy dioramas and costume changes. Surrealism is scattered liberally throughout, and a silliness that's passionate about being true.

Seymour Mace deserves not to be niche. He is random, passionate, funny and ingenious. He's only niche because you haven't seen him yet.