Jordan Brookes @ Pleasance Courtyard

It would initially appear, when Jordan Brookes has to request a father and his underage daughters leave the venue at the beginning of his show, that he is having a bad night. Not that he doesn’t manage it like a pro, having the audience delighted even by a diversion. By the end, however, one is no longer really sure what is the content of Brookes’ marvellously sharp and twisted mind, what is your own response to what unfolds before you, and if there’s even an objective reality between the two.

And that, it seems, is exactly what he intended. Beginning with an explanation of the end of his relationship due to a joke he told onstage, he grabs hold of his audience and without letting go for the whole hour, forces us to consider our responses and how they shape the actions of the people we come into contact with, weaving in some impressively brutal and self-lacerating physical comedy along the way.

Bleed is a deeply disturbing, awe inspiring and unique show that still somehow is entirely relatable.

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Jordan Brookes: Bleed, Pleasance Courtyard (Beside), 1-26 Aug (not 14), 8.30pm, £7-13

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