Melbourne Comedy Festival 1997
Melbourne Town Hall until April 20, 1997
Reviewed by Kate Herbert around March 28, 1997
The Award-winning King of Fools by Russell Fletcher has all
the elements of a great film noir movie – with great jokes.
There is a company takeover, a bunch of
mysterious deaths and a hero. Re-take. Anti-hero called Roger King. He's a
sappy architect who has designed a chicken-shaped soup vat. Poor old Rog. First
he loses his dad then his company, his job, his gal and finally, his miserable
life. Loser!
There's a baddie, Spinalzo, who is a wheelchair ridden cross
between Peter Lorre and Davros from Dr. Who.
An even more insidious baddie, Ken Leech, represents our whole
Casino-boss conglomerate rolled into one smug tycoon. And then there is the
ghost of Hamlet's - sorry Roger's - father who was pushed from Prince's Bridge.
It's fabulous to see a really slick, funny and theatrical
solo show and King of Fools is the big one so far this Comedy Festival. It
stands out among all the stand-up.
Fletcher peoples the stage with archetypal characters and
broad caricatures. He utilises detective novel self-narration in the style of
Raymond Chandler to tell Roger's desperate loser's story.
He works on an empty stage with no props, dressed in a Roger
David suit but his swift and inventive scene changes, snappy, on -stage
character transformations demonstrate a phenomenal theatrical skill and
impeccable comic timing. Fletcher leaves himself space to improvise and play a
little, which is one of his strengths.
This is a delightful meeting of comedy, theatricality and a
sharp, intelligent script. It attacks the privatisation of trams, corporations,
Casinos, and bad Leagues Club comics. His Scottish comedian is a riot.
See this!
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