For previous trips to Norwich, Robin Ince has been in the company of his book club – but this time round he’s ditched the literary hangers on and is focused on one thing: science.
Or rather he was focused on hundreds of things, given the ever-expanding nature of the universe, in a show that zipped between topics in a slightly unpredictable manner. With large parts of the show devoted to praising the eccentric brilliance of Charles Darwin (including such lunacy as playing the bassoon to earthworms), you might even say the gig evolved before our very eyes.
Ince gave the near-sell out Norwich Playhouse audience a mix of scientific exposition and comic anecdote in a busy show that overran by some margin, his clear enthusiasm and delight in the topic unable to be contained by such illusory things as time.
His delivery and style was a mix of smug-lite Dave Gorman and hyperactive Stewart Lee, his backing slides giving some form to the occasional angered rants that exploded from this otherwise rational and sedate 44-year-old.
And it worked brilliantly, with the audience engaged and entertained from beginning to end: great, intelligent comedy.
