66a Church Road (Tour – Liverpool)
Yorkshire-born Daniel Kitson is a funny looking chap who amuses you before he even starts to reminisce about his love of a home he once lived in.
Walking on to the open stage, dressed in trousers and shirt, he sits on a chair surrounded by suitcases ready to share to the audience his affinity to a three-storey flat in Crystal Palace, located at 66a Church Road.
His appearance has changed slightly from when he last visited the city. His bushy long beard has been reduced to stubble, but his distinguishable thick framed spectacles remain.
He speaks with a slight lisp but chooses every word with precision and his delivery is perfect, while his language is brilliantly rehearsed and a delight to listen to.
His solo performance essentially tells a love story – one about him and 66a Church Road – and the people he loves or has loved, who spent time with him in the flat.
Through his detailed descriptions we hear about his friends, Dave and John, the latter being his mate who he stayed with for nine months prior to moving into 66a Church Road. Kitson said ‘any common decency would be two weeks’, but he lived at his friends’ home for nine months. He had to move.
Kitson is lit up by a ceiling light as he explains his first day moving into 66a Church Road – as he is throughout – and occasionally stands to emphasise either his encounters with his cockney geezer landlord or descriptions of rooms within his home.
Kitson uses small models built within the suitcases to show how his flat looked which is a superb technique but it is slightly flawed as they are too small for those sitting at the back to see. However, when his story is broken up by a number of pre-recorded anecdotes one suitcase is lit up to show a model of his living room, another the front of his flat.
His short pre-recorded anecdotes further describe his memories of the flat and the people he shared it with, thus he recalls a time spent with his dad and mate listening to sports commentator John Motson, and another a time when making ham sandwiches for his mates and his torment over whether he should serve them with avocado or not.
Kitson’s performance is very polished. He packs so much into just over an hour, although he has you hooked on every word.
Eventually he tells us he has to leave the flat despite a last attempt to buy. But the flat has changed. Gone are the rotting sash windows he adored. In are the modern double glazed windows that open with handles. His relationship has ended and with this realisation he moves on.
-Michael Hunt
