Marcus Brigstocke: God Collar, Sallis Benney Theatre, Brighton, February 10

I've been asked by the Badger (Sussex Uni's student newspaper) to write a few reviews on events during the Brighton Science Festival. I've never written a review of anything before (aside from maybe sticking a few pithy lines about some film I've seen into a blog post), so please bear with me if I completely fuck it up. Hopefully the next few will be better. Let's crack on...

If you're anything like me, you see the words "[comedian] explores religion" and expect an evening of Bible-bashing, picking out the most insane beliefs of global religions for us all to have a good laugh at and feel smugly superior in our lack of faith. How wrong I was. God Collar, written following a long period of depression and introspection following the death of Brigstocke's best friend, is an honest exploration of faith, our need for it, and what it offers us in times of crisis.

Brigstocke deliberately focuses on the Abrahamic faiths (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) as they are the ones to which his audience, and Brigstocke himself, can most easily relate. With the curator of the Brighton Science Festival, Dr Richard Robinson, providing a sounding board and occasional prompt, Brigstocke invites his audience to join him on his exploration of faith, challenging our preconceptions both of faith and of atheism. Neither are safe from Brigstocke's unique brand of dry wit, and he firmly believes that neither should be, pointing out that fervent atheism of the kind displayed by Richard Dawkins and his contemporaries requires just as much faith in an idea as any religious belief.

The show is funny, but also thought-provoking and at times quite poignant. Brigstocke shares himself completely with his audience, drawing them in and inviting them to rethink their views on faith and what they really believe. He is keen to point out to an audience of mostly scientific minds that atheism by no means proves you are smarter than anyone else. Indeed, he makes a point of saying that some of the most stupid and vacuous people he knows are atheists.

If he makes one point to take home though, it is that faith, in whatever form, can be an immense comfort in times of crisis and should not be dismissed lightly. Even if you do not believe in the Abrahamic God (and he sees little enough reason to), it can be enough just to believe in something, and the most important thing is to keep an open mind.