A big night out is followed by a rude awakening when Daniel Piper realises he may have accidentally sent an inappropriate email to his boss telling him he was taking the day off – something wild he has never done before! But our hero doesn’t have the guts to go through with it, and so ensues a two-way conversation between heart and mind trying to decide the best course of action.
It is an entertaining start as Piper sets the scene for his impending hangover with a drunken welcome to all down in the Underbelly’s Cowgate venue, but once he has awoken and begins pondering his “will I, won’t I” dilemma, the show starts to become repetitive.
There are minutes on end when no jokes are made, nothing grasps the audience’s attention and people shuffle uncomfortably in their seats. Yet Piper has a boyish charm as he contemplates his current work situation and the potential he has to live his life to the fullest if he just summons up the courage to leave.
The concept is a good one and certainly unique as he battles with taking the opportunities he didn’t as a teenager and bettering his life. Unfortunately, it the show never really takes off, and despite numerous transition points where the audience hope it might mark spark into life, the storytelling of Daniel Piper’s Day Off remains pretty mundane with some toe-curling audience interactions, including Daniel yelling in one man’s face and drunkenly falling over others as he moves around the room. Worst of all, it isn’t internally consistent with Daniel’s nice guy persona.
The introduction is quirky and there are some decent one-liners scattered throughout so perhaps more focus on these and less on “a day in the life” would serve Daniel Piper better moving forward.