Review: David O’Doherty Will Try To Fix Everything – Gala Theatre, Durham

Expanding on the darker tone exhibited in his preceding ‘break-up’ show, Irish Casio king David O’Doherty’s new offering covers happiness, hope, and in all but name, depression.

Pinned to a overarching structure inspired by his song Life, David O’Doherty Will Try to Fix Everything is  a gratifyingly-shambling examination of the minutiae of loneliness, the undoing of dreams and the small things we do to try and claw our way to happiness.

Having trudged through 38 years of steadily eroding innocence, the normally chipper O’Doherty bemoans the cheapening of life, from the grim nature of minor celebrity, to the abject failure of people to live in the moment.

Though the subject matter is a little more damp than his usual fayre, the perpetual man-child eases us through with equal parts whimsy and innate, haphazard allure.

Spinning tangents within asides within off-shoots, O’Doherty is just as enjoyable scuffing his way around stage as he is behind a comically small keyboard.

Via the scape-goating of Lance Armstrong, dead-on observations on the sinister appetite for twee, folky advertising by faceless corporations, and an uncanny impression of a stick insect, he frequently leads his tour of the modern human condition off the beaten track.

You really have to lean back to see the composition of the show; often it’s difficult to remember how O’Doherty got to this point in his story, or why, such is his meandering nature – but O’Doherty’s klutzy raconteuring is so engaging, you never actually mind.

O’Doherty attempts to grasp onto the small things that offer optimism in the often shapeless landscape of adulthood are hardly groundbreaking, but with such a captivating and artlessly-funny captain at its helm, you couldn’t ask for a warmer show.

A song commissioned by a mental health awareness group, about a man who engages in a spot of onanism while riding his bike – just because… well, why not? – perfectly illustrates how, for all his self-effacing reticence, O’Doherty’s boundless enthusiasm shines through, proving that perhaps there is hope after all, for the pervasive power of possibility.

As the man himself says in his closing song: “When life gives you dilemmas, make dilemmonade.” And that’s exactly what O’Doherty has done with this show.

Date of live review: Wednesday 5 February 2014