I have to admit, I was very close to not going to watch the Leeds Tealights at The Library Pub. After this year at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival watching a variety of critically acclaimed comedy shows, I decided that I just don’t find stand up or sketch comedy funny. So I took my sorry excuse of a sense of humour along to the comedy club style function room in the Library hesitantly.
I’m extremely glad I popped in. Their warmup act, ex-Tealight Patrick Turpin was good, although he perhaps relied a bit too heavily on his Mum’s friend who had written an in-depth letter of his birth. His excellent timing and self-awareness onstage however, showed he really knew how to work the audience.
After a short break the audience took their seats to watch the headline act of the evening, the five-piece Leeds Tealights. The group consists of old hands Hugh Coles and Nick Bechman, and this years newbies; Felix O’Leary, Jack Baxter and one of the first girls to join the group for a few years, Emily Clarke.
The excellent opening sketch led us seamlessly into a wonderful set of scenes, giving the five performers opportunity to show off their versatility and creativity. The sketches are all written, directed, rehearsed and performed by the five of them, making the work even more impressive.
I was in stitches at many points, and although not every scene had me laughing out loud, the vast majority of skits really appealed. In the intimate space the pressure was high, and the performers really fed off of the audience’s energy, shifting pace to match them, which is perhaps one of the hardest things about sketch comedy – making a rehearsed piece specific to the audience each night.
I have to, however mention Hugh and Emily. A bolt of lighting on stage, Hugh’s energy never failed and his pace and precision made his characters hysterical. The same can be said for Emily, who played to her strengths and really nailed the characters in each sketch, pushing the energy of the piece from 70% to 100%. The whole team worked so well together and really bounced off each other, delivering what was a stellar and thoroughly enjoyable show; this generation of Tealights is definitely keeping up the well earned reputation of previous years.
Graeme du Plessis
Images: Leeds Tealights