Train Man
Pearse Centre, Dublin 2
★★★☆☆
Caroline McEvoy’s life is off the rails, and it all started when she was three. Before then this Northern Irish comedian was on track to be the first Disney princess from Bangor. Born several months before the Belfast Agreement, she counted as a brave survivor of the Troubles (technically). And, most importantly, she had the undivided attention of her parents. Alas, along came her brother Jonathan.
Train Man opens as a chatty, charming comedy show about a sibling rivalry that started on day one. To be an eldest child, McEvoy tells us, is to know that your parents thought, “We can do better”. Then a throwaway comment transforms the set into something more moving and personal. Jonathan has autism, and the jokes start to explore disability, family and the balancing act between self-actualisation and care for others.
A potentially heavy theme is light in McEvoy’s hands. She breezily teases Jonathan for having a “boring kind of autism” – he’s obsessed with trains – and literally pulls no punches, asking a squirming audience if it’s okay to hit your disabled brother. Humour is love here, and beneath the laughter there’s real care, even if Jonathan’s locomotive-themed YouTube channel gets more views than her comedy clips.
Train Man sits uneasily between narrative and straight comedy. At times the stand-up takes away from the story. McEvoy riffs on life as an unmarried woman in her 30s, telling us that there are so many wedding photographs on her Instagram that it must be “a targeted ad campaign funded by my mum”. Her boyfriend – a hairy prince rather than a handsome one – gets a negative bedroom review. The territory is familiar, and so are the jokes.
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Train Man is an endearing, funny show. But perhaps unfortunately for this long-upstaged sister, it’s at its best when Jonathan’s on board.
Runs at the Pearse Centre, as part of Dublin Fringe Festival, until Sunday, September 14th
