Stuart Black: Sex, Money, Death

It's difficult to know what to expect when, moments before a show is due to start, the performer shakes your hand and asks if you are his audience. Luckily, by the time it does begin, there are three of us in total. The lack of bodies, however, is by no means an indication of quality.

Stuart Black is unfazed. He welcomes us and dives into his tightly scripted show where he's joined onstage by a large framed photograph of himself as an eight year old boy, the innocence of youth being one of the themes of the evening. The main areas covered, as suggested by the title, are the 'timeless fears' of sex, money and death.

Black is an engaging storyteller and the set is philosophical. The language used is, at times, beautifully poetic and it's obvious that a lot of time has been spent on the writing of the material. The stories are honest, well-crafted and paint Black as a fascinating character seemingly straight out of a Kerouac novel. There are no huge laughs here, but plenty of amusing and interesting ideas to keep anyone engaged for an hour.