Little Lark of London

“I’m SoHo happy to be here”

Dumb puns, nudity and acrobatics – what more can you ask for in a show? For those unfamiliar, Stamptown is a show hosted by Jack Tucker (Zach Zucker), an arrogant American comedian who will, as he says “hit ‘em once and then three more times” with the same joke, digging up the dead horse from the grave to beat it even more. He is joined by several recurring characters including Dylan (Woodley), the show’s photographer who can be found rollerskating to “Ridin’ Solo” as he’s hyped up by two people in purple morph suits, a spooky vampire (my personal favourite, Steffan Hånes) who took up a delightful amount of time in jumpscaring the audience and Erin (Farrington), an exasperated stage manager who may be a bit too excited getting to be on stage. 

Part of what makes Stamptown so great is the relationship that Zucker has with the lighting (Lily Woodford-Lewis) and sound (Johnny Woolley) team, with the three of them joining forces to create absolutely incredible curated chaos. Some highlights include a running gag where Zucker will curse and the censoring “beep” will come a second too late, the lighting going dark when Zucker insults Lily and multiple characters and acts going into the soundbooth and taking over. 

The first act, Cirque Alfonse, gave a fun performance where they all strut around the stage in nothing ut their pants, performing balancing acts with a keg (hopefully those in the front row were warned that it was a splash zone!). Then came Sikisa, a stand-up comedian, immigration lawyer and burlesque dancer. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing her perform several times and she is always a joy to watch, whether she is joking about being diagnosed with dyslexia “halfway through her life” or dancing her heart out as Tucker watches, jaw dropped, from the wings. 

Sikisa was followed by the “World Renowned Conductor” Salvatore Giovanni (AKA Amadeo Fusca), who gave an impressive performance of miming sexual acts while still managing to absolutely nail the facial expressions that orchestra conductors display while performing. The act ends with quite the reveal that has the next acts slipping and falling on the stage! 

If there was a competition to see who would cause the most chaos during the show, Natalie Palamides certainly would have won. After doing a hilarious bit in which she is literally split in two as an arguing couple, she focused on Zucker, telling him to “Take off the mask, Mr. Zucker,” as he desperately tries to remain in character as Jack Tucker, to which she responses, “You’ve been doing this shitty character for five years.” She then goes topless and runs around the audience, shouting at Zucker as he breaks back on stage. For fans of Palamides, don’t worry – she came back onto the stage (and off!) many, many times after her act had ended, encouraging Zach to “be himself” as the audience cheered her on. 

In continuing the trend of stripping as a part of an act, Rowen K performed some incredible acrobatics while slowly removing parts of his costume. I loved his act and would love to see more from in the future! Marshall Arkley, who I had seen during Stamptown’s run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, is a crowd favourite, mixing fire tricks and strip teasing (can you say teasing if there’s full nudity by the end?).  Flo and Joan (Nicola and Rosie Dempsey) ended the acts with a singing duet about swing music made even funnier by the fact that they couldn’t get through a song without Rosie forgetting the lyrics and absolutely losing it. 

An important note – don’t even bother trying to make plans after Stamptown. It will always run late, and bless the Soho Theatre staff for being so accommodating and letting the group do their thing without shutting things down too quickly. A moment of appreciation for the staff members assigned to work the Stamptown nights – I hope you didn’t spend too much time cleaning up confetti and bodily fluids. 

Ultimately, Stamptown is an insane comedy show that truly cannot be replicated. Even if the world was in some bizarre Groundhog Day-esque time loop, Zach Zucker and his fellow performers would find some way to cause just as much chaos as they always do. I look forward to seeing them return to, as Jack Tucker so kindly calls it, “London Kinglish.” 
Stamptown ran from 17 to 27 January at Soho Theatre. More information on the group can be found on their website.