Review: Kevin McCloud’s Home Truths at Riverside Theatre

Kevin McCloud’s Home Truths at Riverside Theatre
Thursday, February 15, 2024

Part architecture lecture, part stand-up comedy routine, and part behind-the-scenes of the award-winning TV show Grand Designs, Kevin McCloud arrived in Perth on Thursday night to a packed Riverside Theatre.

McCloud is synonymous with Grand Designs, having hosted the British TV series since its conception in 1999. He spoke about how the show was conceived, the importance of storytelling in its success, his favourite projects and people (Ben’s 2003 wood house and Patrick’s 2013 container home), and the reasons why he loved them. For fans of the show, the evening included excellent video snippets and montages, including meeting the crew behind the camera.

McCloud is a naturally funny guy, confident in front of the crowd in his suave blue suit and neon-laced runners. His observational-style comedy focuses on design frustrations, asking painfully obvious questions like “why can my hermetically sealed car open with a proximity fob, but draughty homes insist on small metal keys?”

For architecture buffs, McCloud spoke passionately about passive cooling, great design, and global architecture. He shared examples onscreen, from the Eames chair (and its various knockoffs and predecessors) to the Hyderabad wind catchers. Honestly, with his accent, he could read the encyclopaedia and sound fascinating.

The show encouraged audience interaction through an app, where you could submit questions for the Q&A and answer poll questions to participate in the discussion. For die-hard fans, McCloud shared the Grand Designs bingo card (aka drinking game) online as well.

As wonderful as the above content was, at a running time of three hours, it was just too long. The first half was brilliant, but it could have finished there. Like a movie that needs a good edit, Home Truths was too much of a good thing.

MELISSA MANN