Aidan Killian Holy Trinity of the Whistleblowers @ the hive, Niddry St., 2.30

It's Sunday so I decide to go to see a man who dresses up as a cross between Jesus and Buddah. I  thought it would be a suitable replacement for a Sunday service at church.   I saw Aiden Killian last year at the Fringe, I had been stalked by his persistent advertising guy.  He'd come all the way up to our community garden at Fountainbridge and flyered on more than one occasion so I thought that level of determination deserved a look.  I wasn't surprised to learn that this new show was about whistle blowers.  Although the content had been less serious last time, his portrayal of Jesus had been more about the flipping over of the money in the temple than the sandles and bible bashing.

Aiden Killian Advertising at the Filmhouse

Banks are void from the content this time round but spirituality remains in this anti war show and Killian spins off some internal banter of him trying to meditate.  It consists of him having an argument with himself which is sweet, a surprising twist in the character of a man who likes to joke about inappropriate erections and sex dreams involving his mum who happens to be in the crowd, brave move.  My mum would flip!.

This is the third show that I've seen this fringe that involves comedians standing up for transgender folk but in this case scenario it is kind of side stepped while being mentioned as Killian is right.  Why should it matter what shoes you like to wear, be it high heels or brogues.  If you are Chelsea Manning and you have just downloaded 400,000 sensitive documents about the Iraq war and given the content to wiki leaks I'm pretty sure you've got some bigger concerns of a more pressing nature to worry about. Maybe I have a contorted view point their however being that  I've never worn a high heel in my life.

Killian breaks up taxing subject matter with twisted jokes that he follows up with penetrating intense stares into the audience, just long enough for people to visualize some depravity or another.  Its interesting that although this shows content is motivated by a fucked up world that needs sorting out Killian is completely at home exposing his own personal dark side.  This play of opposites it depicted again at the end of the show.  Killian projects footage of a child being killed by American soldiers and their obvious nonchalance about it.  The audio of the soldiers blames the parents for having brought the kid to the battle field.  It is ridiculous because its clear this place is their home, its a town, not a field with trenches or a board with dice.  Killian returns to the stage as a clown, the ultimate mask to hide from a broken world behind. Like so many clowns before him he has put himself in the firing line of dissent and is pushing others to do the same.  Bring on the Geriatric Jihad!