Gig review by Steve Bennett at The Garrick Theatre, London

The West End has surely not seen a show like this before. Even in the golden eras of variety and clowning, the idea of a silent comedian having a near two-month solo residency in a central London theatre would have been remarkable – today such a major platform for an apparently niche act seems little short of astounding.

Tape Face, the alter-ego of former street performer Sam Wills, has got here through viral videos, a couple of truly memorable appearances on America’s Got Talent, and the hard graft of touring and honing the act live. Not to mention a huge serving of appealing comic inspiration.

On the Fringe, where he built his name, curious audiences seek invention, while in the West End, spectacle is the order of the day, which is sometimes a taller order for this delightful mime to achieve. But partially to that end, Tape Face has made some effort to build a fully-fledged show around the quirky comic tableaux he makes from pound-store props and bemused audience members.

This production is set backstage in a crumbling theatre, with rickety furniture, blown lightbulbs and wallpaper peeling off the wall like a Scotsman’s skin in Magaluf. Arriving nearly two hours early for a show, Tape Face slumps into a musty armchair and turns on the bakelite radio, dozing off to the Shipping Forecast.

That the ensuing skits take place in a dream state isn’t entirely convincing – not just because the artifice requires the longest Shipping Forecast in history, but because the interaction is so lively and of the moment. Tape Face’s technique is to make temporary stars of those he finds in the stalls – and don’t think that sitting in the back or at the centre of a row will exclude you from his intense kohl-eyed gaze – bringing them on to the stage to act peculiar, apparently meaningless, mimes. 

The moment the penny drops, usually courtesy of music kicking in, is the punchline as the strange actions of the ‘volunteers’ are suddenly revealed to make some sort of sense. But the greatest moments come in the way Tape Face admonishes his victims for getting it wrong, aping their inadequate attempts. No one can say ‘what the hell are you doing?’ without words quite like him. And that humour works even for the fans who already know the payoff to the elaborate scenes. Credit, too, for Wills in knowing just who to select for each task.

Full of charm, this show recreates a tone of family entertainment familiar from old-school TV favourites like The Generation Game, as everyday folk struggle to complete an expert task. We laugh at their efforts, but out of sympathy, not meanness. One scene has echoes of Tim Vine’s silly ‘pen behind the ear’ routine, in which the audience become more invested in the achievement of a wonderfully pointless task with each repeated attempt.

With his baggy clothes, striped shirt, spiky hair, bottomless satchel full of props – and of course the gaffer-tape over his mouth – Tape Face looks like the lead character from an indie arthouse animation… and that could be his long-term future, with no language restrictions to limit his global appeal. 

It’s an almost child-like creation, as clowns traditionally are, although when he commands his ‘volunteers’ though the intensity of his gaze alone, it’s clear this is not a character of innocent naivety. No wonder he dropped the Boy With Tape On His Face moniker.

As the show starts, he sometimes expresses a ‘what AM I doing?’ with Gallic shrug as he kills time, while sometimes he toys idly with props to no real end – other than setting them up for a future skit. The pacing is initially slow – there is something an issue stretching this act to a full-length theatre show – and there are a couple of early scene-setting routines, such as one involving Play-Doh, that don’t show the level of invention of his most creative work. 

But when one man, left alone on the stage, is suddenly made aware of what’s expected of him, the crowd erupts, prompting him to perform his dance as a populist hero, the celebratory tone is set. 

Mime is not Tape Face’s only talent. A one-man variety show, he clicks along to the William Tell overture in what looks like an Opportunity Knocks speciality turn from the 1970s, and even revives the old plate-spinning routine. This is the most intriguing scene of the whole show, and the one that plays most to the otherwise tenuous dream premise, as keeping all the items in the air becomes a poignant analogy for anxiety. Earlier, a suggestion of some unseen terror in the real world outside the stage planted a seed of the same idea.

It’s a rare moment of deeper meaning in a show that offers a unique update on the simple silliness, but exquisite craft, of variety as it celebrates the joy of play, flecked with moments of beauty.

• Tape Face is at the Garrick Theatre until July 22. Tickets.

Review date: 8 Jun 2017
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