one4review | On 06, Aug 2023

Mr Etches tells us this show has been three years in the writing, but it has been worth the wait. The show doesn’t have a narrative so much as a shape, sketched obliquely with hints and allusions rather than detailed in a technocratic diagram. This is reflective of Mr Etches himself and his particular flavour of neurodivergence, a butterfly mind curious about the world presenting his wonderings and observations.

Loosely, the show might be about parenting, which comes up frequently enough for that to be the theme (it doesn’t really matter, it’s all interesting and entertaining). It’s also, loosely, an observational style of comedy, though not of the universal-experience sort; rather of Mr Etches showing his observations and inviting us to have a look at this weird thing too.

Coin is strongest when he’s talking and telling his stories and those observations: he’s articulate, thoughtful and reflective, and you get a clearer sense of both his comedic sensibilities and the quirks of his mind. Those sensibilities can occasionally tend rather dark, though there’s also whimsy and droll in there too. Some things, he explains, he’s kept in just for him, because they amuse him – and if you don’t enjoy what you do, how can you expect an audience?

Mr Etches has not perhaps found all of his audience yet, but it is definitely out there. When he does, his shows will be warm, welcoming places of neurodivergence and the shape of stories.

 

Reviewed by Laura

Just the Tonic at The Grassmarket Centre

19:30 (1hr)

Until 27th (not 14th)