Kim Noble: You're Not Alone

Using multimedia, Kim Noble offers a personal take on the theme of loneliness in the modern age. That would be a reasonable description of "You're Not Alone" but it provides absolutely no insight into what experiencing this show is actually like. It's been critically acclaimed by fellow comedians and arty types. I suspect because they admire his fearlessness. This is more of a performance art piece than a comedy show and Noble is seemingly prepared to stop at nothing as he undertakes what he describes as "stunts".

These include but are by no means limited to: rummaging through his neighbour's bins to find her bank details, playing porn through loud speakers as a response to the couple living above him having sex, pretending to work in B+Q, developing an obsession with a Morrisons worker called Keith and creating a female persona to develop relationships with male strangers.

There is undeniable a brutal sense of humour in some of these sections, like one man's reaction after being deceived by Noble pretending to be a woman and arranging to meet up with him in a hotel. After a while you suspect there's little artistic justification for some of it. Creating an animated video in tribute to Keith is one thing, sending him it and eventually turning up at his door is another. Noble's dementia suffering father is introduced towards the end in a way that feels more exploitative than touching.

The ending is very funny, although it's a long emotional slog to get there. It's difficult to wholeheartedly recommend this, although I promise that it's unlike any show you've ever seen before. I applaud Noble's bravery, but find some of his decision making more difficult to admire.