MY DOGS GOT NO NOSE

Peterborough Telegraph – Brad Barnes 4th February 2015

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The unavoidable twists, turns and pitfalls that life throws at us form the perfect backdrop for Ron Aldridge’s superb, bitter-sweet one-man play My Dog’s Got No Nose, which began its month-long national run at Peterborough’s Key Theatre on Tuesday. The humour-laden tragi-comedy script, surrounding a stand-up comedian’s first-ever gig, is brought brilliantly to life by the talented Damian Williams, who is captivating from the moment he first appears on stage to the last.

We join our would-be funnyman in his dressing room – a sparse set of a chair and table, covered in his prop hats – and a bed as he awaits the call to go on stage and fulfill a dream stretching back 30 years – held back by a wife with dreams of her own, should he give up his day job? He nervously paces up and down talking to himself, and then us, the audience, reassuring himself that everything will be ok, or will it as the self-doubt creeps in. What follows is 30 minutes of at times laugh-out-loud fun as he regales us with the story of his journey which has led to him being where he is his – his life, loves, regrets, dreams – until he is finally called on to perform his act.

The second half opens with him coming back to his dressing room, still buzzing, on a high after his performance – and then he picks up where he left off reminiscing. Slowly the mood changes – something achieved with the aid terrific stage lighting – and becomes much darker as the full tragic story is laid bare.

That it touches all the emotions – it is funny, sad, moving, touching – is a tribute to Williams, the writer and direction from Brad Fitt.