Chris McCausland: Yonks! – Alban Arena AND St. Albans Cathedral, St. Albans – Sunday 4th May 2025

(Rated 5/5) This is likely to be the most bizarre review I have written so far. Firstly, because I have never been to a stand-up comedy gig before and not sure how you review or rate it. I mean either you find it funny or not and we all have different senses of humour, don’t we? And second because I’m combining it with a ‘review’ of our visit to St. Albans Cathedral.

We travelled to St. Albans early so as to get a chance to see the cathedral and it is well-worth the visit. Simply spectacular with a wealth of fascinating history behind it. We had the good – and maybe not so good – fortune to get there as a service was underway – so wonderful to hear and witness – yet also meant we ‘missed’ some of the cathedral. Then again just gives an excellent excuse to go again! The weather was bright but chilly, but the latter didn’t stop us walking round the whole building to see it in all its glory. Inside too, ever so beautiful and such a peaceful atmosphere. Whatever your religion, I think you could really appreciate the spirituality of the atmosphere inside and out and together with the outstanding architecture, a stunning experience.

So, why see Chris McCausland in St. Albans… or even why at all?! I’ll answer the second first, which is that he wasn’t ‘doing’ London, and St. Albans was the nearest my theatre-going companion found to London. As to the first question, I’ve liked him for as long as I’ve been aware of him from TV appearances. I’ve also enjoyed his humour on those occasions, so hearing he was going to be on Strictly, he was definitely one of my faves to follow. Naturally, it was going to be fascinating and potentially also a little nerve-wracking to see a totally blind man try to Ballroom and Latin dance, and I suppose I thought for the first few weeks, I might be trying to save him, until it might get to the point where it felt unfair, and then let those showing more aptitude and impressive dancing take over. How wrong I was! From the very start – that Cha Cha to ‘Twist & Shout’ – it was so clear he didn’t need ‘help’ – he was earning all his votes and I think large numbers of Strictly fans fell in love with him – so much so, of course, he won with Dianne Buswell. The way they worked together – 500 hours over the course of the show’s run as he mentioned in ‘Yonks!’ – was so clever and wonderful to witness – a mixture of touch and listening – and lots of laughter together with the development of an amazing connection and trust between them. My personal favourite dance was their Salsa to ‘Down Under’. As Chris said it was very tough and very emotional work, and he was kind of grateful to be back sitting on a stool doing the day job! He also said something will have gone wrong if we are as tearful as we all were in response to Strictly, BUT by the end I was crying with laughter, so both can happen Chris. And, I’m afraid, I can’t but help feel emotional in response to him. It’s not about him inspiring sympathy, in the same way as that wasn’t the case for me with deaf actor Strictly-winner Rose Ayling-Ellis either, but I’m just so full of wonderment and awe at how he copes with the way he sees – or rather does not – the world and deals with all the challenges he faces with such good humour. I wonder if he has dark days – pun was not intended there! I did feel nervous before he started, a little ridiculous as it’s his thing – so unlikely to go wrong – and the points where he stood up and moved from his chair, I worried about him going too far and not finding his way back lol! He had a glass of water on a table beside him and the moments he reached out for it, again I felt a little ‘Ooooh, don’t miss’. His stories included such varied topics as ‘Shakespearianisms’ and his study of English literature, nicknames for the many different Petes in his local pub, hosting the royal variety show and rules on interacting with the royals, dealing with the most challenging vegetable – the turnip, his nosebleed at a school nativity, his involvement with the show ‘MeToo’ before #MeToo, electric car technology and the alarming noises foxes make having sex! There were a fair few blind-related jokes, and also a fair few ‘rude’ ones – and at points where the two met when Brian Conley acted as Chris’ eyes when they were both on one of the Platinum Jubilee buses touring round London possibly waving at trees for all Chris knew, and then later at the concert, and Brian suggested they get their willies out in front of the billions watching Ed Sheeren on live TV! He also finished with a long joke around the ‘meal deal’ private examination of his nether regions and both the sonographer and doctor’s reactions to not fully realising they were dealing with a blind man causing all sorts of amusing, embarrassing happenings! Chris’ school reports were full of the words ‘potential’ and ‘however’ 😉. And, he does show so much potential, however that potential is fully realised in engaging storytelling, dancing or whatever else he puts his efforts towards! He comes across as such a humble, natural, kind man, full of gratitude and love for those who support him, including of course new friend Strictly pro Dianne Buswell, with whom he now does a regular podcast ‘WinningIsntEverything’ (from their Strictly team name even though “Winning Is Everything!”.

Chris applauded and smiled at each section of the audience at ‘curtain call’ in turn to thank us. I did not take my usual curtain call video – didn’t feel fair to do anything other than make as much noise of appreciation as I could! For similar reasons we didn’t ‘stage door’ him either – could result in one of his awkward touching a boob rather than hand moment 😉 – which we might not have minded to be fair whoops!

Before going in my companion thought it felt appropriate to have an alcoholic drink so we both had cider and pre-show reminisced about our uni evenings with cider consumption – not vast in volume, but certainly in potency! 😊 I wanted merch, but there wasn’t any! Plenty though at the cathedral, including the mice exhibit you can see in one of the pics. Trouble is, I’d have wanted to buy them all so nobody got left out, so they all stayed home 😉

Of Mice in a Cathedral and Musings of a Comical Nature… Magical Madness of a Day!! Thank you, St. Albans!!! Yonks! – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2025