ROSS Noble will bring his Cranium of Curiosities show to Lismore’s Star Court Theatre this month, delivering a performance built on improvisation rather than a fixed set.<\/p>\n
“It’s basically just whatever’s going on in my head,” Noble said.<\/p>\n
“It’s a bit like those cabinets of curiosities you used to get in Victorian times.”<\/p>\n
That image of a mind filled with odd ideas and strange tangents reflects a career that began in the pubs and working men’s clubs of Newcastle upon Tyne.<\/p>\n
When Noble started performing in the early 1990s, the UK comedy scene was divided between London’s alternative movement and a rougher northern circuit.<\/p>\n
“There was still a lot of working men’s club-type stuff, and there was still a divide between alternative and mainstream,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It hadn’t really merged yet.”<\/p>\n
Newcastle became something of an outpost, far enough from London that only the strongest acts made the trip.<\/p>\n
The result was what Noble describes as “the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands of comedy”, a self-contained scene where styles evolved differently.<\/p>\n
“You got the absolute best of the London circuit up in Newcastle, and yet there was a little ecosystem all of its own, where all of us lot started,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We would also go up and play in Scotland, so it was kind of a Gal\u00e1pagos Islands of comedy, and it sort of developed its own thing.”<\/p>\n
It could also be unforgiving.<\/p>\n
“You were playing clubs where people didn’t necessarily know there was comedy on,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes you were entertaining people against their will.”<\/p>\n
Noble said the pub environment where he started was very different to the theatres he performs in today.<\/p>\n
“There was a real drinking culture back then,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Everything was just more rowdy and more combative.”<\/p>\n
Crowds were louder and less restrained.<\/p>\n
At one gig, he recalls a man who repeatedly shouted bizarre directions about “avoiding a city farm”.<\/p>\n
“I was wondering if that was some kind of code or something,” he said.<\/p>\n
Noble said rising alcohol costs have also changed audience behaviour.<\/p>\n
“I think the main difference is that back then, people could actually afford to get absolutely smashed all the time,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I think now they’ve brought in rules where if somebody is drunk, then they won’t get served, whereas back then, you could literally stagger into a bar and barely stand up, but if you had the money, they would give you the booze.”<\/p>\n
Unlike many stand-ups who refine structured sets, Noble builds his shows in real time.<\/p>\n
“I’ll go on and improvise, something will come up and I’ll run with an idea,” he said.<\/p>\n
“You might get ten minutes out of that.”<\/p>\n
“But it’s that feeling that it only really happened on that night.”<\/p>\n
Some of those moments develop into future material, while others disappear entirely.<\/p>\n
Noble said that unpredictability is what keeps the work engaging.<\/p>\n
“It’s the joy of it,” he said.<\/p>\n
“That’s the great thing about stand-up it can be whatever you want it to be.”<\/p>\n
While he avoids fixed themes, Noble admits to a recurring fascination.<\/p>\n
“I’ve got a thing about monkeys and ghosts,” he said.<\/p>\n
“But apart from that I just try and see what’s new and exciting.”<\/p>\n
“I love the freedom of it.”<\/p>\n
Each performance becomes a one-off, shaped by the room and whatever ideas emerge on the night.<\/p>\n
After more than three decades on stage, it is an approach that still feels fresh.<\/p>\n
Ross Noble will present Cranium of Curiosities at Lismore’s Star Court Theatre on April 28 at 8pm.<\/p>\n
Tickets are available through TryBooking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ROSS Noble will bring his Cranium of Curiosities show to Lismore’s Star Court Theatre this month, delivering a performance built on improvisation rather than a fixed set. “It’s basically just whatever’s going on in my head,” Noble said. “It’s a bit like those cabinets of curiosities you used to get in Victorian times.” That image […]<\/p>\n