‘Very busy, very famous, international cabaret star’, Mark T Cox has brought his new one-person show to the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe.
Described as a story detailing of Mark’s life in semi-rural Ireland, and his subsequent move to London, this is an hour of music, insights, and very funny moments.
If you’re aware of the East London cabaret scene, you may well be familiar with Mark, who often comperes at a range of venues, including the now defunct The Glory (may she Rest in Peace), and it’s successor venue The Devine.
Audiences in Dalston aren’t afraid to voice their feelings, and Mark’s ability to not only control the audience, but bend them to his will is testament to the skills ground out in the sometimes hostile environment of live entertainment.
Opening with a liltingly ‘Irish’ version of Jennifer Lopez’s “Dance the Night Away”, Mark immediately begins the mild audience participation that characterises the evening.
Don’t be fooled though by Cox’s gentle style of delivery, there are some sharply pointed barbs here, delivered with laser-like precision, as he pokes fun at himself, as well as the various men who have featured in his romantic life.
Depressingly, Mark has far too many stories of heartbreak and disappointment, regrettably shaped by a series of men who are too afraid to embrace their true selves and live authentically.
Mixed in amongst these romantic follies, are tales of the Irish diaspora experience. Mark’s tales of weddings will be familiar not only to anyone with an Irish background, but to anyone who has moved away from their childhood home.
Mark’s stories reflect the difficulty of ‘home’ for anyone who grew up being different to those around them. They also reflect on how we come to peace with our often difficult teenage years, and formative experiences.
Image Credit: Yeaugram
Through the ‘Irish-ification’ of Kylie and the Spice Girls, Mark guides us through self-deprecating stories, and cleverly returns to characters and memories introduced earlier in the performance as his story continues.
The covers of songs will be well known to audiences who were around in the 1990s, or who are immersed in queer culture. Alongside these, are a sprinkling of original songs written by Mark.
The first of these, “Home Town Boys” is an often wistful observation of those men who have chosen to live the easy lie, rather than the difficult truth. But however much Mark may regret that, he’s also very accepting of those choices.
The seemingly more caustic “I miss the money” details a relationship that Mark otherwise does not discuss, in a number which generated laughter from the audience, but which is also surprisingly tender.
Cox is an expert with a one-liner, and with delivering total filth in a way that manages to avoid causing offence, a remarkable skill.
This hour long show leaves you with a smile on your face, and an appreciation of Cox’s musical talent.
A nostalgia fuelled warm hug of surprisingly tender-hearted filth and raw honesty, ‘Paddy Daddy’ is highly recommended.
Mark T Cox: Paddy Daddy continues at Gilded Balloon Patterhouse – Bothie (venue 24) at 10.40pm (22:40) until 26th August (not 13th)