Review: Stephen Frizzle: Harry, My Cat Died – The Stand, Newcastle

Harry, My Cat Died is a great demonstration of how Twitter encourages people’s insecurities, instabilities and insanities.

In this final performance of his 2013 Edinburgh show, Stephen Frizzle – in the guise of Professor Frizzle of the Harry, My Cat Died Research Centre – uses a series of screengrabs to demonstrate the curious lengths to which One Direction fans go to get the attention of Harry Styles.

If the technique of begging for sympathy for the recent deaths of dogs, grans and cats is not worrying enough, then the accompanying photographs may have got Mr Styles pushing the panic button in 1D HQ.

During the show’s opening section, Frizzle – quite rightly – tackles the ethical implications of making fun of those potentially vulnerable youngsters looking to Harry as their only source of light in a dark, dark world.

However, some teens are merely stupid rather than acutely disturbed, and it is with this in mind that we go along with Frizzle’s examination of the wonderfully mad side of fandom.

Frizzle introduces some fun audience interaction, from 1D Bingo to press-ganging reluctant thespians to join him on stage to perform extracts from erotic 1D Fan Fiction. This section is marred slightly by many of the audience not being able to read the words on the projected screen because of the populated stage, but technical glitches are almost inevitable when performing a show for the first time in a venue.

It’s all good, silly fun, and a reminder of how much an insult to evolution and technological development the Twittersphere can be.

Nods must also go to host Si Buglass, who whips up the energy in the room in his imitable, slightly adversarial stage persona, which is marginally at odds with Frizzle’s harmless geekery. David Callaghan also gave an impressive performance as support, delivering self-deprecating routines with a captivating, Kitson-esque lilt.

This might be the final performance of Harry, My Cat Died, but I’m already looking forward to more ground-breaking research from Professor Stephen Frizzle.

Date of live review: Tuesday 14 January 2014

Stephen Frizzle runs the Harry, My Cat Died Twitter account.