Hughes Hughes Review
Written by Mark Thomson
We all know a tall tale or two. I tell one about being in bed with twins when their father walked in with an axe. In reality, I was dreaming of twins when my mum walked in with a cup of tea, but the exaggeration and surrealism makes for happy listeners. No one could understand this more than Hugh Hughes, a professional teller of tall tales spinning his latest yarn Hugh Hughes in... 360, at the Everyman Theatre now. This story of an old friendship put to the test, sees Hughes going solo, unaided by props or frills just like any of us swapping stories down the pub. This 'between friends' atmosphere appears to be exactly what Hughes is going for, as he bounces down the aisles having a chat here and there while the audience are still finding their seats.

Good storytellers should feed off their audience but these conversations started before the main event, leak into the performance. Hughes' introduction stops and starts while he engages people and picks on late comers. Not only are these breaks in flow irritating, but the introduction itself is unnecessary and paints an overly sentimental picture of what is to come.

However, audience participation drops to nothing as Hughes dives into the story with his scarily vivid portrayal of different characters. Not only does he change posture and expression with each persona, but a complete commitment to the story allows him to seemingly change size and shape as well.

He paints scenes from rivers and mountains, to trains and pubs with all the exuberance of a child, diving here and there about the stage with great sweeps of his arms and legs, but never loses his thread or his uncanny sense of timing that leaves his listeners captivated and giggly.

This growing sense of ease in the audience is broken only once, as Hughes pretends to climb a mountain by running up the central reservation. Although this is a clever and creative use of space, it makes for an uncomfortable moment as it seems as though Hughes might return to more audience-participation - but with a quick jog back onto the stage, there is a collective sigh of relief.

All fear of an overly sentimental tale is lost as twist after twist is unravelled, each unlikelier than the next but with Hughes' heart-felt reactions making them completely believable. Even when he steps into the surreal, watching Roman soldiers fighting Celtic warriors from the top of Snowden - the audience stand unquestioning beside him, seeing it all as he sees it.

There is an undeniable sense of warmth as you walk out of any Hugh Hughes performance, and Hugh Hughes in... 360 is no different. It is a return to true storytelling, back to the bard, and I challenge anyone to come away not believing every inch of this tall tale.