Surreal, original, dangerous, brilliant, insane....I have a genuine fear that I'm going to run out of superlatives to describe Dr. Brown's Befrdfgth at Soho Theatre.
I've not seen anything remotely like Befrdfgth and I suspect I'll never see anything that truly matches the experience of seeing Dr. Brown in the near future.
Not to be confused with recent Ricky Gervais collaborator Doc Brown, Dr Brown is by far and away the most anarchic and entertaining comedian I've seen perform.
Chaotically clambering around the room, climbing into the audience decked in cloaks, slapping audience members and kissing others, Dr. Brown succeeds in creating an unsettling atmosphere in which anything and everything becomes funny. You get the sense that this is all one big experiment for Dr. Brown as he masterfully exploits the heightened tension of the room he has manufactured.
Every inch the physical comedian, his background in clowning is ever present as he stumbles, twists, contorts, dances and wrestles his way through a near silent set aside from the occasional moan.
Oddly the whole show is also bizarrely emotive and in places beautiful as he acts out mini stories purely through body language and heavy interaction with unfortunate audience members he plucks from the comfort of their seats.
No one is passive in Befrdfgth, we all have a role to play at some point or other.
The whole show lives in the implied context that we give to his actions which he exploits to add an air of sexual menace to proceedings. The mimes become graphic, violent, sexual, etc because of the meaning we apply which makes every action as uncomfortable as they are hilarious.
Dr Brown treads the line between insanity and genius masterfully and in doing so creates something akin to a masterpiece.
5 Stars.