Gethin Alderman had an explosive energy to him as he greeted the audience walking into the room, with personality that overfilled the intimate space of the bunker. He is also exceptionally passionate for limes. Alderman loves limes. He loves them so much that he dedicated 55 minutes to a green citrus fruit he named Regis.
The show started had a very surreal beginning that momentarily had me worried for what we were about to endure. Then the lime jokes started and the tension eased up slightly. Who knew that there would be so many lime puns! We also discovered that he hates lemons - potentially due to an abusive relationship with them? It wasn’t particularly clear and the thin plot lime (see what I did there) was often lost.
Unfortunately, the lime puns started to sour after a while, definitely outstaying their welcome and eroding the levity they had previously brought. The show ended on a particularly arduous number that felt less mojito and more lemon juice.
In addition to limes, the show also contained some audience participation. You always have to work with what you get when you dare to bring the audience into your show, and I feel that on the whole Alderman did a good job in keeping us engaged and involved. He was at times limited by the space available to him, and other times by the act itself.
Given the silliness and over-dramatic nature of the show, the moments where Alderman turned serious - often to impart some exceptional fruit knowledge - were surprising and effective, if underutilised. Perhaps I’m just a nerd for facts, but equally it’s not a great sign when your momentary dérives are considered welcomed breaks.
Ultimately, SUBLIME feels like it started with a pun and then worked backwards from there to create the show. On one hand you're largely getting what you signed up for - a show ostensibly about limes - but on the other, I had hoped that there would be more to it than just fruit based punnery.
Tickets are available from the Brighton Fringe website.
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