Pedal powered comedy
Emilie Beauchamp hops on an exercise bike in search of laughter
How do you deal with a heartbreak? Some people go and party it away. Others merge with their sofas until the tears dry out and some develop a freakish emotional attachment to a spinning bike…
That’s what happened to Clement, your Frenchspinning class teacher. I’m saying ‘your’ because the comedy Sink or Shpin, which ran from 10-27 October at Boom! Cycle studio in Shoreditch, sets the audience in a spinning class. In fact, you sit on an exercise bike! While this could deter most of us from attending such a performance, no level of fitness is required – you can even take a beer in.
From the moment you arrive, the two members of staff – Clement and the ‘manager’ of Boom! Cycle – treat you as though you were really going to a spinning class; giving you a locker, a water bottle, stretching a bit, etcetera. Co-writer and performer Donal Coonan introduces himself as Clement and his other half, spin bike Bridgette, as the new addition to Boom! Cycle’s spinning instructing team.
He left his home of Perpignan for new horizons so he slurs in a heavy French accent. We soon discover the reason for his move, and throughout his ‘seven deadly modules’ exercise plan we relive the ups (but mostly downs) of his breakup with a cheating ex-wife. To fill the emptiness in his life post-Emilie, Clement clings to his new fitness mania: a spin bike will never leave you, and it always waits for you at home (alone). Plus it makes you fit.
The whole experience is charming, endearing even. You have a good couple of laughs as Clement mends his broken heart and attempts to raise your heart rate. But unfortunately, the setting itself feels like the best part of the show. I found myself expecting more. The script is smart and well played, but it uses a few too many clichés about breakups and French people and lacked any surprise factor. Let’s just say I didn’t fall off my bike laughing. Relying a fair bit on interactions with the crowd, maybe the play simply belongs in a smaller room than the half-filled professional studio of Boom! Cycle.
Directed and co-written by Josh Azouz, the piece still has been collecting hurrahs ever since it first played at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2011. So there is scope to think that a Sink or Sphin 2 could bring some wittier upheavals. With that in mind, while there are no next shows announced at the moment, I expect we will hear more from Clement and Bridgette so keep an eye on their website.
