Rather than start with his trademark Sam Spade-esque introduction, he launched into an extended action scene, as an injured Bruce Bane – the hired hand who follows his own rules – was chased down by a gunman.
But, armed with nothing more than vocal sound effects and a highly physical performance, Bone played with the clichés, frequently dragging everyone on to a totally different path.
Bane 3 was about the tired gangster trying to break away from the mob, in a plot drawing from movie and graphic novel A History Of Violence.
Bone skilfully brought flashbacks into the performance without losing the audience.
The live soundtrack provided by guitarist Ben Roe came into its own during a party sequence, with classical guitar soundtracking the front-of-house celebrations, while also creating the teethclenching tension backstage.
Bane’s move from the Fringe into the Festival underlines the amount of acclaim Bone’s exhausting performances have already accrued.
Bane 3 showed he was able to taking everything up a notch.
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