Skip to main content

Review of Feast Of Fools Storytelling #15 - Kevin Walker at the NN Cafe, Northampton

As across the country Andy Murray continued to be British and Wales returned to being Welsh again, the fifteenth Feast of Fools and the final before the summer break battled against these outside influences to fill its seats. Those that stayed at home on this night though, were to miss the delight that was this months guest Kevin Walker as he took to the NN Cafe stage (or not as he rather delightfully stayed with us at audience level).


Kevin Walker is the kind of teller that places you in the palm of his hand, calmly soothes you with his words, pats you on the head, tickles you under the chin, and then all of a sudden says totally unexpectedly the word "penis". This isn't to suggest that anything particularly vulgar was going on, however for the whole evening we had that perfect blend of traditional stories laced with just the perfect edge of adult subject to make it all just rather brilliant for a grown-up audience.

The penis in question (a first for me to write that I think), was that of Osiris and a classic tale featuring Isis and Set, which was to open the evening of hugely varied tales. I use the word varied with authority, as this evening had everything that I delight in from an open mic evening. We had the perfect mix of classic tales and modern ones, a favourite of which was that of a girl kept in a house by her father and a broken porcelain vase which never ended up as one.

There were many of these throughout the evening, and Kevin Walker told them all with a brilliantly relaxed style, perfected through the many years he has clearly crafted it. He was, I think one of my favourites that I have seen, and this is no small feat, as via Feast of Fools and the Royal & Derngate, I have been privileged to have seen many tellers of skill and variety.

No matter how exciting Murray or Wales may have been, Mr Walker provided equal excitement and intrigue in his tales, and if you ever get the chance to see him, he comes extremely recommended.


Performance reviewed: Wednesday 6th July, 2016 at the NN Cafe, Northampton.

Feast Of Fools is held on the first Wednesday of each month at the NN Cafe
Full details can be found at https://www.facebook.com/StorytellingFeast,Twitter @FOFStorytelling and website at http://www.storyfeast.uk/

Popular posts from this blog

Review of & Juliet at Milton Keynes Theatre

First performed in 2019, & Juliet has become quite a global success, and now, as part of a UK Tour, it has arrived at Milton Keynes Theatre for a two-week run. Featuring a book by David West Read, it tells the what-if story of the survival of Juliet at the end of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet . Primarily a jukebox musical, it more specifically features the works of Swedish songwriter Max Martin (and friends, as the credits describe). The question is, does & Juliet provide more than the standard of many a jukebox musical before it, and does it honour the tragic tale from which it has sprung? Our story opens with William Shakespeare presenting his latest work, Romeo & Juliet , for the first time. However, when his wife, Anne Hathaway, learns how he intends the tale to end, she is away with his quill and planning on her reworking of the story. At the core of this touring production's success is Geraldine Sacdalan's powerhouse performance as Juliet. Her Juliet ...

Review of Northern Ballet - The Great Gatsby at Milton Keynes Theatre

This production of The Great Gatsby performed by Northern Ballet was my fifth encounter at the theatre of a full ballet production and as before, I happily share my review of the show with nearly zero knowledge of-the-art form and more of a casual theatre-goer. You could say that this is a poor direction to come in on a review, but I would say that casual audience are the ones to review this for. Over the years, Northern Ballet has set quite a high benchmark for ballet productions, and any audience member who is worth their salt as a ballet fan would no doubt have tickets for this new touring version of the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby , lovingly created by David Nixon OBE. So much is Nixon part of the very fabric of this show, that he not only provides the choreography and direction but also the initial scenario and costume design (assisted by Julie Anderson). So, discounting those ballet fans already sitting in the audience, what does this offer for the more casual theatre-goer ...

Review of The Rocky Horror Show at Milton Keynes Theatre

Richard O’Brien’s anarchic, surreal, and often incomprehensible musical, The Rocky Horror Show , has captivated audiences for over fifty years now. With this new tour, it feels as fresh and unpredictable as if it had just emerged from O’Brien's vivid imagination yesterday. While another review might seem unnecessary given the countless dressed-up fans who fill every theatre it visits, let’s go ahead and write one anyway. The Rocky Horror Show follows the adventures of Brad and Janet, a newly engaged couple. On a dark and stormy November evening, they run into car trouble and seek refuge at a mysterious castle reminiscent of Frankenstein’s. There, they encounter the eccentric handyman Riff-Raff, the outrageous scientist Dr. Frank N. Furter, and a host of other bizarre characters. What unfolds is a science fiction B-movie narrative that is at times coherent and at other times bewildering — yet somehow, that doesn’t seem to matter. I first saw The Rocky Horror Show in 2019 and exper...