Review: Robin Ince: The Importance of Being Interested – Newcastle Stand
After a relatively lengthy PowerPoint introduction with voice-over accompaniment, Robin Ince emerges from the darkness, clicker in hand. He’s keen to get on with proceedings, explaining that his show has in the past lasted four hours; tonight he only has ninety minutes.
Ince’s haste is apparent throughout the show as he skittishly skips through his PowerPoint, continuously cutting and editing as he goes. Inevitably this leaves the show somewhat disjointed, toing-and-froing at varying tangents as fresh tales resurface in his mind. Yet Ince exhibits his experience and is able to keep things under control, despite the pressurised nature of this performance, scarcely pausing for breath as he hurtles through his abundance of material.
Moreover, his patent reluctance to omit sections of his show reflects Ince’s profuse passion for what he does. This enthusiasm is arguably his greatest quality, allowing him to captivate the audience before inviting them to engage with his view of the world and its many wonders.
Indeed, Ince cuts the figure of spellbinding professor as much as stand-up comedian, seemingly aiming to educate as well as entertain. Science, and his love of it, forms the spine of his show tonight, with only the occasional detour to recite Twitter riffs with journalists and conversations with his five year old son. From black holes and quantum physics, to naked mole rats and Charles Darwin’s nose, Ince revels in the complexity of our universe, and while his material is rarely side-splitting, it is always fascinating.
He is unable to prevent himself from over-running, failing to resist indulging in his experiences of working with Richard Dawkins, much to the delight of the audience. As Ince eventually, and reluctantly, pulls himself from the microphone a feel good show comes to a close.
The Stand was by no means in hysterics tonight – indeed four hours would have been hugely excessive – however this is a show that leaves you in high spirits, grateful to be alive in the 21st century.
