Ciaran’s Bartlett’s Phantom of the Opera House – a dark and filthy evening rolling in the aisles (Grand Opera House until Saturday 28 September)

Ciaran Bartlett kicked off his week-long stint at the Grand Opera House this evening. True to the show title’s promise, Phantom at the Opera House begins with a touch of Lloyd-Webber’s musical which quickly morphs into a spot of Meat Loaf. Soon he’s talking sausage rolls, Patrick Swayze and twisted nipples.

A couple of days shy of his 38th birthday, Bartlett has been battling vestibular neuritis for much of this year. The prolonged bouts of vertigo may have influenced his ‘deep dive’ into darker material. Last week’s loss of a wisdom tooth has already become embedded in the routine.

Dressed in comfortable green trackie bottoms and a coarse black tea-shirt, Bartlett periodically wanders back and forth from his faraway guitar stand. Some of his songs are over before they’ve started. Others are replete with big production values, rich backing tracks and effects. A starry backdrop at the back of the stage adds a touch of class to proceedings. The flexible backlighting keeps the audience’s faces lit so the comedian can always gauge their reaction.

We’re a first night crowd, so there’s some conscious self-editing going on when throw things off with our clapping and tittering. Though I don’t think small rewrites will do anything to spare his mother’s blushes when she attends tomorrow evening. While the first half is dark, the whole show is as filthy as you could imagine.

Podcast listeners (and watchers) will be familiar with Bartlett’s wife Chloe and his musical mucker Jonny Martin. Fine musical tributes to both are included in the show. Bartlett has a fine voice, a background in crooning over his guitar in back-alley pubs, and would make a great pantomime dame at Christmas.

The front rows of the audience reveal their vulnerabilities as Bartlett channels his inner Derren Brown. Few topics are untouchable, and he carefully steps over the potential landmines presented by Jeffrey Donaldson, the McCanns, trans athletes … and even exploding pagers when prompted by the audience. There’s even a rather hangry encounter with the legendary Joe Lindsay!

Bartlett’s post-interval musical improvs based on suggestions by punters sadly run dry after just one or two stanzas, abruptly stopping as he turns to riff on another topic. But hey, he’s more confident and able to generate mirth on demand than the audience. And he made me laugh: I’m a tough audience that survived two hours of John Bishop in the SSE Arena this time seven years ago without a single guffaw.

Phantom at the Opera House continues in the Grand Opera House until Saturday 28 September.

Photo credit: Instagram/@andrearussell_xo

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