(4 / 5)

It’s hard to miss a large giraffe head across the fringe. I heard of Francisco last year and sadly never got the chance to see him. But that yellow and brown pattern has haunted me ever since – haunted me for a missed opportunity. 

What transpires is one hour of complete and enjoyable nonsense. I’m not sure if there was a story per se but little small sketches throughout that seamlessly linked into one another or slightly circled back.. The majority of the narrative is to enable a healthy dose of audience interaction and it works very effectively. So, easy to say, if you’re the shy and retiring type, this is not for you – but nothing to fear, Francisco is nothing but friendly, even if his visible bum cheeks feel slightly daunting at first. 

Francisco has made a very impressive headdress, something from Lion King comes to mind. Made out of cardboard and not entirely accurate or anatomically correct, the small hole for his face allows him to make confident and hilarious eye contact, sound and facial expressions. This all adds to the ridiculous humour and there’s no rhyme or reason to why the giraffe’s interactions are sometimes from his face or the giraffe’s inches above him. We don’t question it as it only adds to the humour and ridiculous nature. 

I’ve alluded to it but moving down, we are often treated with a full view of his bottom. There’s nothing sexual or necessarily crude in this, but only elevates the nonsense more and adds to the overall costume – with slightly mismatched patterned accessories, verging on leopard rather than giraffe. It might seem like something that a starting out act might do in absence of funds but this is actually a very clever approach and weirdly goes together. 

There’s a little bit of Mr Bean about this act. Very little actual speech is uttered, and if it is, it’s almost mime. But we entirely get what he means. Slight, more obvious prompts are made to help the audience along but he fully embodies his act through physicality which is innately funny. His interactions with the audience are abundant but nothing terrifying. There’s some slight crude-ish humour – think sniffing his ever growing quantity of g-strings on a washing line, but mostly it has a tinge of slapstick and a touch of flirtation. 

Francisco de Nata is just pure nonsense of the best kind. It’s one hour of surprising comedy, evoking the naughtier side of Rowan Atkinson and providing humour that trails one after the other in perfect succession.