REVIEW: MAZ PANTZ by Mary Redmond at Canal Café Theatre 21 – 25 August 2026
‘A welcome addition to the fringe comedy cannon, original alternative material with a dead pan delivery.’ ★★★★
This solo comedy sketch show created by actor and comedian Mary Redmond, offers highly original material. Mary Redmon uses mime and cinematic voice over to very clever comic effect, introducing the audience to several characters. These range from Hermione who takes herself very seriously, to a sock puppet who possesses Redmond and a film director who is obsessed with the desire to shoot a scene focusing on the right knee.
The sketches come so fast that there is barely time to laugh, as there is so much story to absorb, that takes some concentration, but the rewards are great.
One of my personal favourite sketches is the Teddy Bear. Redmond delivers an epic, from first love (the Teddy), to children, to mid-life crisis to old age and death. Utterly convincing, endearing and hilarious. And how about the pub. Redmond becomes a bar maid, pulling pints and dealing with unpleasant customers. It’s a recurring sketch throughout the show. She announces ‘pub’ and we know exactly where we are. So, when an astronaut reaches space with his massive helmet (so well drawn by Redmond that we can actually see it), and she announces, ‘pub’ and pulls a pint, obviously the best in the world. Sadly, it just bounces off his helmet, and no one is more surprised than him to find himself in space and unable to quench his thirst.
Redmond’s material has been worked on over many years, with some new gems added for this very short run at the perfect venue for this kind of show, with its café style set up. Hopefully, she has many more characters and stories to bring to the fringe. It clearly is a lot of work to finesse these complicated offerings. With real clarity of storytelling comes the need to have voice overs with exact timings. These are worked to perfection with Redmond playing all the roles and working alongside herself. It’s a multiplicity of characters, all played by one person.
