Sam Eley Is Basil Crumbwick review – cantankerous cult hit brings laugh after laugh

Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh There are shades of Vic and Bob as well as Frank Sidebottom when this embittered git with bloodshot eyes holds court Every room in Edinburgh has its ghosts, and its particular character.

This one is all about the late-night cult hits, from Rob Kemp’s Evil Dead-meets-Elvis mashup nine years ago to Joe Kent-Walters’ debut as Frankie Monroe – a character whom this year’s cult-in-waiting, Sam Eley as Basil Crumbwick, slightly resembles.

Crumbwick is Eley with a giant papier-mache head on, an unreconstructed git with bulging bloodshot eyes and strips of carpet for what is left of his hair.

He’s an unlikely candidate to be addressing us all in a cellar at an arts festival.

But, having been banned from all his favourite Peterborough pubs, what’s a big-headed old bigot to do? Continue reading...