Live Comedy:
Peacock by Kiri Pritchard Mclean
25th October 2024 – Huntingdon Hall, Worcester
Frank Skinner always articulated how he enjoyed openings and intros. Skinner would not have been disappointed with Kiri Pritchard Mclean’s entrance in her sequinned, one piece spectacular. An outfit which would have had Elvis Presley’s knees trembling at the prospect. However, enough of the male perspective…
The show – Peacock – explored the notion of motherhood and the challenges and joy of raising children; from a very female perspective. The observations may have been gender specific but the central message was embraced by all.
Huntingdon Hall really does offer an alternative education at times.
As any GCSE student currently taking November resits will tell you, the main purpose of the show was to entertain and inform. The potty-mouthed comedienne entertained the willing cohort from the start. Mclean’s notion of voting for a harassed single-mother to run the country – “as they clearly know what they are f*cking doing” – clearly hit all of the audience’s criteria.
KPM is informed by her background and as a proud, class-warrior any middle-class affectations under the umbrella of her show’s focus – came under close scrutiny. The coy phrase, “Speaking as a Mother…” – and the inferred ideas within – was met with a dismissive response time and time again. As we know, “words don’t mean, people mean.” Who has had to endure the humble bragging of a Mother who is angry because her daughter had already learnt her alphabet before she attended school: I have.
Everyday phrases trigger Miss Mclean’s imagination and the symbolic tagline “virtual signalling” inspired any number of invective anecdotes and sentimental stories. The audience embraced the sign-posted gags, vignettes and punchlines like the small hand of a child needing to connect.
Huntingdon Hall genuinely fosters an agreeable ambiance with the help of their characterful stewards on these nights. Mclean adopted a persona that is both barrack-room bravado and defenceless innocent. Her RADA-standard responses to the intrusive questioning from a tetchy vicar brought a silent fascination in the room, much like a child watching a candle’s flame for the first time.
The crowd were not always quiet, at times the shrieking, theatrical squawking and outlandish squealing was reminiscent of a penguin colony.
No one could have foreseen the conclusion of the night’s comedy. Kiri Pritchard Mclean was in full control of the show; she was so vocally proud to have written. Skinner may be obsessed with starts and we may not have predicted Presley’s end but the life-affirming final ten minutes of Peacock would surely have brought a tear to Louise’s eye if she had been there?
By: The Swilgate Scuttler
Ps The flamboyant Peacock may be more majestic than the plainer peahen but after the courtship ritual…who does all the hard work?