Russell Kane knows Geordies.

A sharpsuited, pomade-dipped rake with the kind of boundless energy that only a backstreet pharmacist could tame, the multi-award winning comedian, actor and author is no stranger to the North side of the Tyne.

a boy suddenly made man

Differentiating effortlessly been the two types of Geordie (high-pitched and low-pitched), in love with the close-knit yet knockabout family dynamics and floored the by the stunning, dangerous beauty of born-and-bred northern women, Russell is a boy suddenly made man thanks to his very own nice Northern lass and the recent arrival of a baby daughter.

It’s this seismic entry of a new life into his own that his ‘Right Man, Wrong Age’ show hinges on. Eschewing for the most part the backbone of his blistering YouTube polemicals.

spray tans, milk slugs and interspecies milking

Brexit pops its contentious, bruised head up a scant few times, and Herr Trump doesn’t even get a look in – Russell goes deep and shockingly personal with a journey from boyhood to the moment he became a man.

Weaving important issues of male identity, loneliness and unsharable existential angst together with cock socks, ill-advised spray tans, milk slugs and interspecies milking, this confident, highly introspective spectacle is a huge stride forward for the Essex lad, the man-making moment that ends the show landing a surprisingly poignant note and igniting a thundering standing ovation of the kind only Geordies can deliver.

Leigh Venus at Tyne Theatre and Opera House, 12 May 2017

Originally published in Narc Magazine

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