VLAD bounds on stage and bounces about like an excitable Labrador puppy, and I think that’s part of the problem.
He’s an immensely likeable stage presence but I just got the impression that, when I saw him at least, he let his excitement and enthusiasm get the better of him.
It felt like he rushed through the show which didn’t let the jokes breathe and robbed it of what could have been significant emotional impact.
Maybe Vlad was over-stimulated by what looked a sell-out crowd but he was on and gone in 48 minutes when a more moderate pace would have allowed the North Macedonian stand-up (a first for me) to expand on the ideas and themes that could have formed the basis of a really strong show had they been developed fully.
Using his chess obsession as a spine for his show, particularly as regards his relationship with his father, is a fine notion but it felt less than fully-formed and didn’t really hang together.
Also, and to stretch the puppy metaphor to breaking point I feel like I’m slapping a puppy here, Vlad relies a little too much on stuff the audience probably doesn’t know too much about.
I studied the Balkan conflict at Edinburgh Uni – while it was ongoing which meant the books were all out of date, not my best decision – but still struggled to set Vlad’s ideas against the context of the Macedonians fighting Albanians, or Nato’s less-than-transparent role as the former Yugoslavia tore itself apart.
Which is a shame as there was much to get your teeth into here, such as the latter part of Vladislav’s name meaning “slave”, and his attitude towards that.
That said, there are a couple of ill-judged punchlines, for my money if the last word in a gag is “abortion”, you might want to reconsider.
Tales of Soviet cartoons (everyone of my vintage remembers those weird animations that would crop up on BBC2 at 6pm in the late 70s), and the fact there is no “H” in Russian so the dubbed version of JK Rowling’s boy wizard is known as “Gary Potter” tickled me but the overall impression was of a nice guy learning his craft and presenting what was really a work in progress as a fully-formed show.
Vlad Ilich: Vladislav, Baby Don’t Hurt Me, 20.30, Pleasance Courtyard – Attic until August 25
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/vlad-ilich-vladislav-baby-don-t-hurt-me
