Liverpool-Live

I have a friend called Ian. He has recently bought a small terraced house, a house which on first inspection and a more detailed look through the survey set enough alarm bells ringing to evacuate the local home for deaf war veterans. He did however (against everyone's advice) buy the place; because it had original features, because although small it had enough room for his friends to come round and play computer football and above all he fell in love with it enough to devote a whole year redeveloping it.

That in a nutshell sums up the tale of 66a Church Rd the Crystal Palace property that forms the basis of Yorkshire comedian Daniel Kitson's latest project. Having already enthralled audiences at the 2008 Edinburgh fringe and a subsequent Australian tour, Kitson's monologue of a 6 year love affair with his flat is a funny, moving and sometimes beautiful story of an affinity to the place we call home.

Lit by a single orange shaded ceiling light, the simple set consisting of an array of battered old suitcases depicting his post flat homeless state, forms an integral part of the story. Kitson has cleverly built a number of props into the cases which enhance his story telling, with a representation explaining his love for sash windows, the light which only works after clicking a special combination of two switches and a model of his empty flat on his final day on Church Rd among them.

There are real laugh out loud moments as Kitson describes his fear of all things Roald Dahl and his semi-realisation of a dream to have a house with a useless 22 seat cinema in the basement and a record shop that sold freshly cooked buns. Kitson also showed his frustrations firstly with his business minded yet idiotic landlord and more seriously of a society which tells us what we think we need to have, when actually we already know.

66a Church Road is an accurate portrayal of how we become emotionally attached to our homes when in fact they are the boxes in which we keep our memories, love and belongings. I hope my friend Ian can realise this before he starts work on his new cinema loft conversion.

Daniel Kitson's 66a Church Rd runs at the Everyman as part of the Liverpool Comedy Festival until Sat 8th May