Skimmed

Described as a “performance lecture”, The Price Of Everything is a piece of theatre, a lecture and a stand-up show all spliced together to form a unique one man show with the articulate and intelligent Daniel Bye at the helm. It’s like a collaboration between Al Gore, Stewart Lee and a local dairy farmer. If the performance was milk it would be skimmed, as there's not an ounce of fat in the whole hour. 

The show was post-modern and deconstructive, exploring the manipulation of audiences as well as the concept of value. A glass of milk became the currency of choice as Bye explored, well, the price of everything. Using a mixture of surreal allegories and hard facts, Bye delved into the world’s idea of worth and what our society values with a charm and likeability which made these complex ideas thoroughly accessible.

There was also a degree of self conscious satire as Bye demonstrated the callousness of the Conservative government and free market capitalism. The show ended on a tale espousing the need for kindness, even just the smallest, tiniest bit of kindness, which was reminiscent of Danny Wallace’s Join Me movement.    

Bye aimed to plant a small seed in the audience’s minds, only time will tell if he succeeded but you can see the progress being made here.

 

Matt Watts