Alan Davies Little Victories Tour at Sheffield City Hall Review
Alan Davies
Little Victories
Sheffield City Hall
27 November 2014
Reviewed by Laura Bown
I was very excited to be visiting Sheffield City Hall to see Alan Davies. I only really know Alan Davies through Jonathan Creek and QI, and was really intrigued to see his stand up material. I had also not been to City Hall for quite some time and was interested to see what the venue was like. The show was excellent, although not entirely what I expected.
Right in the centre of the city, Sheffield City Hall is an amazing building, Grade II listed and an asset to the city. We arrived and were greeted at the top of the grand stone steps by friendly staff. The box office staff were courteous and helpful, it was extremely easy to find our seats as there were staff everywhere to direct us. Alan Davies was in the Irwin Mitchell Oval Hall which seats over 2000. It is a stunning room with art deco features and an amazing stained glass ceiling. The seats are comfortable with good leg room. A particular feature that I like is that there is and air conditioning system with vents underneath every seat in the stalls, sometimes it is easy to get far too hot in these venues, but this system prevented that from happening.
We were a little early for the start of the show so we had a drink, which we got from one of the kiosks. There was no queue and the staff were very quick. A white wine and a lemonade cost £6.50, which in a venue seems reasonable.
Alan Davies broke the ice with the audience in the usual way, chatting with the latecomers, asking where people were from, and then started to ask how old people were. It was very interesting to find that there were people in the audience ranging from 12-90. All the adverts for the show do state that it is suitable for 15+. There was certainly some more risqué material in the show. I haven’t really seen this side of Alan Davies before, as I have only seen him through the TV shows he has done, so I was a little surprised by it. Although it was all extremely funny!
The best material was that involving his small children. Maybe it is because I have children of a similar age but I found the elements where he was talking about his adventures in parenthood extremely funny. Some of the material where he was talking about his childhood and his relationship with his father was also excellent, but slightly dark at the same time. He was extremely open about some of the issues they have faced, and I do think this makes you even more invested in the show. You can tell he is a comedian who really works on his craft. The show ran for much longer than I expected, he just had so much good material.
We had an excellent evening and would definitely see it again!
Rating: 5/5 
Alan Davies is currently touring with Little Victories. For tour dates click here.
For other shows at Sheffield City Hall visit www.sheffieldcityhall.co.uk.
Sheffield City Hall, Barkers Pool, Sheffield, S1 2JA | 0114 2 789 789
