Thomas Green: Brainstorm - UK Tour - Exeter Barnfield Theatre Review

Australian comedian Thomas Green has been selling out shows at major festivals including both Adelaide and Edinburgh Fringes and is now delighting stand up fans around the UK on his Brainstorm tour. Since supporting Mo Gilligan at his Exeter University Great Hall show, he has become a favourite with Southwest audiences, so much so that he has been invited back on a number of occasions, now selling out the Barnfield Theatre ahead of a return to the Northcott venue later this year.

Green comes to the stage with a boundless energy, instantly winning over the audience with his sense of fun, silliness, relatability and rapidly overcrossing trains of thought. He tells stories of how he met his partner and moved to the UK, trying to impress her religious family after attending church in a shed down under, how his young son is learning from him and how he once thought he was going to meet a grisly end, all whilst working the audience expertly.

If going off on a tangent can be described as a specialist skill, then you could call Thomas Green an expert. Reactions and shout outs from the audience lead him meandering down rabbit holes and exploring new stories, all whilst continuing to bounce with energy and laugh at both the audience’s own stories and his own fits of giggles. Some of his stories may not reach their actual conclusions due to this running off down random paths and new tales, but each moment is so naturally funny, you find yourself not even minding that you may not find out exactly what happened every now and again.

With bad language and adult content used and referenced throughout, with one word being described as merely a comma in the Aussie dialect, Brainstorm isn’t family viewing but if you can look past the language and embrace it as just an element of the chaos and silliness, then you are in for a treat. Green is able to weave together story after story with such hilarity, your sides will split from laughter and your cheeks ache from smiling. He blends being an expert storyteller with being incredibly likeable, a genuinely funny guy that is just there for a good time.

I must also praise Hetty Preston, Green’s support act, for her expert opening act, displaying a natural talent for working with and reacting to an audience. Her stories of dating and single motherhood had the audience in stitches, and she is certainly one to watch for the future.

Thomas Green: Brainstorm continues on its UK Tour until June before resuming in October.