Dan Wright: Michael Jackson Touched Me

You might know Dan Wright: he flies around on a wooden spoon in the hit CBeebies programme Big Cook Little Cook (as a distinctly slight man, he's the little cook). What you might not know is that Wright also has an obsession with Michael Jackson—like, a proper one—the analysis of which forms the subject of his Fringe outing. But, rather than an objective look back at a period of Wright's life when a pop star held an unreasonable sway over his actions and emotions, one can't shake the feeling that the 32 year-old remains oddly in the grip of his hero, so vehemently does he defend the now deceased singer.

If this show's greatest triumph is that Wright doesn't opt for an easy string of jokes about MJ's alleged fondness for underage minors, it's for no other reason than because he earnestly believes the allegations to be a lazy tabloid slur. Moreover, Wright's conclusion that "not everyone has to be a Michael Jackson fan" appears more as a measure of his infatuation than as a thoughtful climax to a nicely performed, but largely unfunny show.

For what it's worth, it comes across as pretty brave for a successful, in-work actor to talk so candidly about an acute obsession which has evidently made life difficult for him at times. But that's probably not enough in an hour where the most fascinating passages regard the behaviour of some of the over-zealous fans at one of Jackson's concerts. If it's any consolation, by comparison, Wright seems pretty normal.