Review: JORDAN BROOKES: FONTANELLE, Soho Theatre

“A cry for help or entertainment?”

As someone with a love for musicals and comedy who grew up with an odd fascination around the Titanic and its tragic end, you can only imagine the excitement I felt seeing the press release for Jordan Brookes: Fontanelle. A comedy looking at the commodification of the Titanic that also has some musical aspects? It sounds too good to be true. Unfortunately, in quite a few ways, it is. Brookes himself says, “Look, some of you are gonna hate this,” and he probably isn’t wrong. 

With a show description that emphasises “using the Titanic as a vehicle” and claiming Brookes has “gone on an obsessive deep dive” on the subject, it is a bit disappointing to hear Brookes declare that he does not actually care about the Titanic. I also should have seen the warning sides when the show’s description called it a “full-blown (sort of) musical spectacular,” as there are only a few short numbers throughout the 75-minute runtime. The songs, written by Jake Roche, are all great and I would genuinely love to see them turned into a full musical about the Titanic and the lives of those on the ship - maybe Brookes would enjoy this musical more than the version of Titanic he saw in Southampton. 

Putting those thoughts aside, Brookes is a fantastic comedian who uses the entire stage to his advantage, whether he’s rolling around on the ground or going into the audience and handing a microphone to women to give them an equal voice to him, a man, on stage. He has a fascinating ability to go from serious reflections on the fate of mankind to the ridiculous boating dream of “Put dick in ship.” I also thoroughly enjoyed the more reflective moments in between the jokes and songs, including the scarcity of men complimenting other men and the concept of self-sacrifice based on gender alone that has been forced upon men since the dawn of time.

But Brookes isn’t alone in his quest to discover the truth behind the wreckage. He is joined by Eddy Hare, Rosalie Minnitt, Isobel Rogers, Jake Roche and choreographer Jessica May-Simmons, who joins the cast due to Lami Olopdade being unable to perform.

The highlights of the show come from when Brookes used the talented ensemble to his advantage, having them represent some of the men who would have lost their lives on the Titanic and what lives they could have led. Unfortunately, the ensemble is woefully underutilised - even if it is quite amusing to have them simply jump on stage for a quick line, I would have liked to see more of them throughout the show, potentially presenting other perspectives on the Titanic and its relationship to masculinity.

For something that claims to focus on the Titanic, there are a wide range of topics included in the show, included the show’s actual name - Fontanelle - which is the soft space infants have on their head that is closed by the time a baby turns three. The subject of the fontanelle leads to some pretty weird stuff and definitely doesn’t go where one might expect.

There are actually quite a few sexual jokes that feel out-of-place but are more well-received than the ones about 9/11 - there was a particular joke about Ground Zero that had audience members groaning. That’s not to say that this isn’t acknowledged. Brookes tells the audience that they need to “get used to the rhythm” of the show as he jumps from musical number to monologue to audience participation at the speed of a ship hitting an iceberg. 

Jordan Brookes: Fontanelle is a mix of show styles that might have been more effective is Brookes had actually been passionate about the Titanic, using his knowledge to connect to the men on the ship who lost their lives as women and children (and dogs) left in lifeboats. If you have an ensemble with such great musical comedians, they should be used more, even if it takes away from Brookes’s solo moments. 

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