Review: ★★★★ Tim Key: Megadate

Walking into the Lower Town Hall room, the audience are taken slightly aback by Tim Key silently sauntering on stage before the show has even begun. It's only made more curious as the show actually begins and the crowd realise what a juxtaposition this entry is to the electric power that drives Megadate.

Weaving an eccentric tapestry depicting potential love and lost amenities, Key takes his audience through a 24-hour narrative that only raises more questions as it progresses. Tangents of cheese, bowling and more cheese; the UK comic underlines it all with his trademark brand of striking and hilarious poetry.

Key not only works the room like a pro, he uses the space like another prop in his performance. Punctuating his show with a number of excellent filmed sketches, Key uses these moments of distraction for a costume change and a new point of delivery from the back of the audience. Watching this show is like watching Key's own brain in motion: constantly ticking, never resting, riding peaks of comedic poise and artistic brilliance.

Key is not necessarily a laugh-a-minute-type comedian, but every moment out of hysterics is spent in total captivation. The crowd are completely mesmerised by the poet's wavering energy, going from solemn to spirited in a heartbeat. More often than not Key is a step or five ahead of his audience, seamlessly moving on to another joke before the previous one has totally landed. He is a freight train of sprawling energy that waits for no man, and a hell of a performer to boot.