Review: BILL BAILEY: THOUGHTIFIER, Theatre Royal Haymarket

A comedian, a musician, a nature-lover, a philosopher. Bill Bailey has now surely also cemented his status as national treasure. His latest show, Thoughtifier, is about his intriguing thought processes, channelled through music. So nothing new there then. However, Bailey ensures that a show that runs over two hours never flags, maintaining characteristic charm and curiosity throughout.

Winning Strictly Come Dancing brought Bailey to a new audience and this still is evidence with the wide age range throughout the audience. Yes, there is the old fan base of older prog-rock enthusiasts, but also a surprising number of teenagers who seem thrilled to be there. Performing an inclusive show that is unoffensively suitable for everyone is something Bailey always get right. He proves that you do not have to swear or be distasteful to get the laughs.

Bailey’s shows work as they segue from one disparate topic to another, seemingly without effort. Despite his huge intellect, he is also without arrogance, moving from the ancient origins of the Stoics to the strange relationship us Brits have with celebrity in clear, yet clever ways that never patronise.

Reflecting his well known love for nature, a digital screen as backdrop, shows a cartoon-like landscape moving between the natural and the man-made and back again. Bailey is now missing one of his favourite topics- a Tory government to bait- and his sole political segment is a cleverly subversive song about the need to send pensioners to Rwanda, primarily for the climate.

A Weimar version of “Happy Birthday” in a minor key is a highlight, with lines such as “a cake in the shape of a lie”, as is a deeply funny story about the disorientating effects of too many gummies in an Amsterdam hotel. The latest Lord of the Rings series gets a trouncing, particularly for the use of a benign Yorkshire accent for the monstrous Sauron.

Not everything lands. How Pachebel’s Canon has influenced everyone from Bob Marley to Blink 182 is loaded with intrigue, but we never get to the root of it. A section on AI also feels unfinished, as do his potentially fascinating musings on nuclear fission.

For those who have seen Bailey’s previous shows, there are more than a couple of familiar segments. His beloved Kraftwerk is again inspiration for a nursery rhyme; there is another appearance of his Eurovision entry of “The Ballad of the Crow and the Child” performed in French. His customary attacks on Coldplay remain as sharp as ever and his rock rendition of “Yellow” in Turkish is very funny, but has also been seen before.

Bailey gets away with it through his madcap performance, but also the constant wonder at seeing him pick up instruments from a 5th century Zimbabwean thumb piano, to the bagpipes, to a bouzouki saz, as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

Bailey is a polymath in the truest sense of the word. Even if you have seen him perform some material before, Thoughtifier an enormously entertaining show that delights and amuses as much as it provokes thought. 

Bill Bailey: Thoughtifier is at the Theatre Royal Haymarket until 15 February

Image Credit: Bill Bailey: Thoughtifier

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