The second half was a little lighter on the comedy, but it started with a bang with Mackenzie Crook in the guise of track-suited schoolteacher Mr Bagshaw, a character he used to do on the circuit about 15 years ago. This was an instantly recognisable archetype as he yelled at his imaginary audience and increasingly revealed his own failings and inadequacies.
At times this was a little like a comprehensive school version of Rowan Atkinson’s schoolmaster, but it was still inspired and distinctive. It is a shame we have not seen more of Bagshaw over the years due to Crook’s burgeoning acting career.
Next up was a short piece of theatre from veteran Sheffield-based Forced Entertainment that was darkly comic as two women onstage tried to create silence only to be constantly interrupted by a pedantic roadie/techie. It was clearly clever stuff and was politely well-received, but after a run of out-and-out belly laughs was a sharp gear-change.
Normal comedy service was resumed with Bridget Christie, who prompted a huge cheer even before she started with a gag hinting that she was responsible for the blaze: “the things us women have to do to get a decent gig…”. Her brief set was a mix of old and new material, taking the piss out of her feminism while at the same time striking a blow for women’s rights. I don’t think anybody else has ever notched up so many laughs while making an impassioned argument against female genital mutilation.
Next up was BAC’s Beatbox Academy, who got the room roaring with their hyperkinetic reboots of Adele and The Prodigy's Firestarter. “Too soon?” joked one member of the group. The audience luckily saw the funny side.
As well as live acts in the Royal Festival Hall others that couldn’t be there from Chris Thorpe to Kate Tempest appeared on video. Daniel Kitson, on film from Australia (and the fourth Edinburgh Comedy Award winner of the night) came close to stealing the show as usual, this time with a nutty dance while Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire played in the background.
Finally, after an inspirational thank you from BAC Artistic Director David Jubb, actor Toby Jones appeared to recite a poem crowdsourced from the many social media tributes to BAC since that fateful Friday. Memories of drinking gin, seeing comedy, loving theatre, being artistically stimulated poured out. "We'll rebuild the Grand Hall brick by brick," promised Jones, before adding BAC's motto: "Not for you, not for me, but for us".
As it happens I’d been to BAC’s Grand Hall only a couple of days before the fire to see a physical theatre show, Gecko, so some of the lines really resonated. I went back a few days after the fire to see Daniel Kitson’s latest work-in-progress and saw that despite what had happened spirits were already high. As has been constantly said since then, the Grand Hall will rise again.
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