Review: Adam Riches: Jimmy

Adam Riches| Image courtesy of Multitude Media

It's an apt time to consider the career of a top tennis player, following Andy Murray's retirement. In comedian Adam Riches' latest show, the game is a battleground. He's best known for the exaggerated comic characters he creates, but here he's stepping into the shoes of real-life American former World No. 1 tennis player James 'Jimmy' Connors. It's 1991 and the 39-year-old, his career in decline, is about to make a headline return at the U.S. Open.

It's a sweat-flying hour as Summerhall's TechCube becomes Jimmy's comeback court. Riches, racket in hand, never stops moving as, in character, he takes a swing at opponents in more ways than one. He talks us through the larger-than-life player's phenomenal success alongside the corresponding failure of his personal life. The mother who coached him looms large.

From the off-stage 'thwack' of a ball, to the drumbeat accompanying every missed shot, Tom Parry's production conjures a compellingly primal atmosphere. Riches ditches the obvious laughs for a wire-taut performance as a man effectively weaponised into a professional perfection incompatible with the ruthlessly fickle off-court world. But the tone of the show doesn't vary enough. It's mostly one angry volley after another, lessening its impact.