The turnout for Mustafa Algiyadi’s hour-long show Almost Legal Alien is admittedly not the largest but he seems happy to have us all the same. That said, it raises a few challenges for a performer who clearly revels in an appropriate amount of crowd participation.
I squirm in my seat when he asks audience members about their professions, awaiting the moment I have to say something like ‘theatre and comedy critic.’ With around twenty people in the room, the odds of it being me who gets asked are high.
Thankfully I dodge the call but Algiyadi finds little comic joy from a wholesome crowd that includes a safeguarding specialist and a charity worker. It feels unfair to judge those moments given the lack of audience to mine or reactions to feed off.
You feel that a few of the jokes that don’t quite land need a bigger audience where people feel more free to laugh without standing out because it’s a well-crafted hour with Algiyadi laying the breadcrumbs for future pay-offs and reaping the rewards later in the set as he recalls his experience of moving from Libya to Germany and the cultural differences that often present themselves in various amusing ways, not to mention his attempts to enter the United Kingdom. The rewards he reaps would be greater with a few more bodies in the room (get out there and see him, Edinburgh).
There’s plenty that people can relate to, and though Algiyadi occasionally goes for slightly risque material, it’s, for the most part, a gentle kind of comedy – like a chat with an old friend.
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (Good)
Mustafa Algiyadi: Almost Legal Alien is at Just the Tonic Nucleus, Edinburgh until 25 August
