REVIEW: Laurence Clark, Unity Theatre Liverpool

Inspired is Liverpool comic Laurence Clark’s second homecoming show of the year. Playing to a packed out Unity theatre last night, he presented his latest show Inspired, funded by London 2012. This didn’t affect the show’s content, in which Clark, who has cerebral palsy, admitted he wasn’t one for sport or the Paralympics much. The idea for the show came from one Tweet from a fan looking forward to meeting him, who finished his message saying Clark was ‘#inspirational’. “Patronising bastard!”, laughed the comedian, who goes on to explore the idea that everything a disabled person does can be framed in reference as brave or inspiring, even if it’s just getting up in the morning. (His disdain for the fan comes back to haunt him at the show’s conclusion). Interspersed with clips of his regular hidden camera stunts and sketches, and a nice Dave Gorman-style running joke in which he tried to hijack the achievements of non-disabled people with the same name has him (including Lawrence Clarke the Olympic hurdler), Inspired was a finely crafted hour-long show that flowed beautifully, came with lots of laugh out loud moments, and made some serious points with good humour and warmth. The show had a strong script and was performed with confidence and instinctive comic timing from Clark. He’s great company, and really makes an audience feel welcome and part of the show. One audience member nearly put him off his stride last night though, his wife Adele. “There’s a fine line between matrimony and heckling,” he giggled bashfully at one point.