 Ross
Noble first came to Geoff’s attention in 1999 when he couldn’t
get a ticket to see the show. This was hardly surprising as Ross
was nominated for ‘the Perrier’ that year.
Geoff
has since followed Ross’s Fringe career closely and watched him
develop in to a cult ‘Icon’.
My only contacts with Mr Noble have been infrequent passing
conversations between two Fringe regulars who sort of recognise
each other by site, and watching two of his DVD’s.
Both of which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Seeing
the ‘Randomist’ tour advertised I decided to get tickets.
Friday 2nd December saw me feeling not to special and
not really wanting to go out but after the first few minutes of
the show all that was forgotten.
The
spectacular if somewhat intriguing set can only be described as an
explosion in a giant orange bouncy castle, a computer generated
visual nightmare and the state of Ross Noble’s mind. Having
originally designed this set, Ross admits to being frustrated that
he is not allowed to actually bounce on the manifestation of his
creation.
As
for the show itself it is impossible to describe, it is fast
flowing, totally disjointed,  seemingly random, providing
mesmerising moments of mental mayhem, maintaining muddled madness
motivated by the magical master of mirth. His inoffensive manner
brought the sold out 2000+ strong audience together as one.
It was unclear at one or two points whether Ross was
entertaining us or whether we were actually entertaining him! He
kept referring to the young C.S.I. lady from Fife, the electronics
student who couldn’t control his bladder, the strange Latvian
woman with a craving for Maltesers and the safety of people
walking up Leith walk. His habit of starting an amusing ditty then
changing the subject re turning occasionally to each thread only
to spiral off in tangents again is both endearing and frustrating,
even if he completes each story eventually.
To
get a flavour of what you missed go to Ross’s website where you
can see where he is performing next and where you can order his
CD’s and DVD’s. Lookout
for the next DVD filmed during this tour.
 Despite being a well-known and popular
performer Ross takes time at the end of his show to take questions
from the audience. He also made 4 veterinary and 3 biology
students ecstatically happy after the show by taking time to talk
to them sign autographs and pose for photographs. We all spent
some time in his company and it was the perfect ending to a great
evening.
I look forward to getting
the ‘Randomist’ DVD as soon as it is available.
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