A voice from the crowd chuckles at Jeromaia not appearing on stage. ‘Oh wow oh wow oh wow’ he mumbles. Not knowing anything about the show, I was worried this persona was going to take up the hour but thankfully it’s just to kickstart proceedings. He makes the audience fill out bits of paper and put it into the box on stage, he then does a quick 180 through a curtain and with a new face, Jeromaia makes his real appearance.
What he does for the next 55 minutes or so is a series of improvisation sketches all picked from the audience. Jeromaia takes you back to your childhood, reminiscing about what you want to be when you grow up. On the stage he has a variety of props and clothing to play dress-up. The scraps of paper in the box are what members of the audience wanted to be when they were younger.
With dramatic music and dramatic flair, he picks out a bit of paper, gets in character and reads the contents of someone’s childhood dream. Spaceman. Pokémon Trainer. Sweetshop owner. Belly dancer. He recruits the audience to help role-play out these occupations. The consistency isn’t always there, some sketches noticeably stronger than others, but the fact it’s all off the top of his head and with assistance from a willing audience. It’s still all very entertaining as you have no idea where it’s going to go. I would have liked for the stronger sketches to have lasted longer as when he hits his stride, this is when he fully has the audience on board. But I understand he doesn’t know what he’s got to work with until he picks up the next bit of paper.
Like a comic mad scientist, Jeromaia even laughs out loud at some of the antics he’s created. Having an audience member dress as Pikachu singing the Pokémon theme song was an early highpoint of the show.
His production assistant also deserves praise as he plays as much a character ensuring the lighting, music and sound effects helps Jeomaia with the story beats of each sketch.
Jeromaia Detto: When I Grow Up…, The Wee Coo at Underbelly, George Square, 16:20
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/jeromaia-detto-when-i-grow-up
