Troy Hawke, Brighton Fringe 2017

Milo McCabe as Troy Hawke, Caroline of Brunswick, Brighton Fringe, 28 May 2017

By Ollie Wilson and Laura King

Most of us know the story of what occurs when a boy is raised in a jungle by apes, but what happens when a boy is brought up by an eccentric widowed mother in a Grade II-listed stables conversion in Croydon on a diet of Scrabble and Errol Flynn films, to be unleashed on an unsuspecting world 35 years later?

This show has such an incidental social experiment as its premise and Troy Hawke (Milo McCabe) as the articulate product who delights in and dishes out food for thought on the confusing nuances of 21st Century society.


Established Radio 4 comedian Mark Steel introduced Troy Hawke and the first thing that struck you was how incredibly handsome and dapper Troy looked in his smoking jacket, cravat, slacks and brogues, and how very out of place in the corner of the distinctly clarty upstairs room of the Caroline of Brunswick public house, where the threadbare carpet has seen a thousand discarded fag ends and probably never smelt a whiff of shampoo.

There is a bit of Noel Coward in the character's manner and, by dint of his dandyish poshness, Troy Hawke cannot help but sound a little camp. Much of the humour stems from Hawke's apparent naivete about life, fashion and politics combined with his razor-sharp repartee, deploying political terms, for instance, on audience members that should be far beyond Troy's knowledge. It should not work - but it does, and is infectiously funny, albeit a tad cruel at times.

The Poundland (or should we say Guinealand) material was very funny, allowing Troy to play gently with his audience.

This was his ninth preview for his Edinburgh Fringe show and Milo McCabe, son of 1980s comic Mike McCabe of New Faces and Comedians fame, knew most of his script well and was very slick in delivery. Troy extracted enormous comedic mileage from a local newspaper story about a cyclist who was almost hit by an egg, a slow-news-day yarn if ever there was one.

The Troy Hawke character has enormous potential for Milo McCabe. His material is strong and if he continues to work hard on his writing, seeing all the major, and minor, issues of our times through the Hawke prism, as Al Murray did from the late 1990s onward with the Pub Landlord, he could have struck an equally rich vein of comedy.

Strangely, Troy Hawke reminded me of the Kirk St. Moritz character in the classic BBC sitcom Dear John - a preposterously overconfident figure in public, but a shrinking violet back home with Mother. Therein lay the secret of the character.

Troy Hawke may not be fully formed yet but is well on his way to greatness.

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