John Hegley and
Simon Munnery -The Journals
at 7 Alfred Place Melbourne, March 31 until April 21, 2002
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Let's face it. The Brits have a handle on comedy like no
other nation. John Hegley and Simon Munnery in their joint show, The Journals,
are proof.
The pair are an unlikely but fascinating duo. Hegley is
Elvis Costell with dancing hips
and bonkers performance poetry. He even has the black spectacles and he makes a
virtue of them.
He elevates glasses wearers to royalty and castigates
contact lenses users. His audience applause with spectacles' arms is a
highlight.
Hegley's journals are fabricated from his childhood memories
in the suburbs of Luton, a
satellite town of London. His snatches of diary entries of a ten year old are
ironic, cheeky and often surprising. He plays an electric mandolin and sings
silly songs about his Luton bungalow.
His controlled
mania, skipping gait and compelling gaze keep us attentive like children just
in case he picks on us next and we don't know the answer.
Munnery is a different story. He enters as Alan Parker,
Urban Warrior, a character we saw
at the 2001 Comedy Festival. Parker is compelling and recognnisable if you know
any ill-read anarchists.
The character is an intellectual and political dwarf. He
thinks anarchy is not working for the man and a band is just as good without
the musical bits.
Parker is the master of stating the bleeding obvious. His
arguments are built on sand. He babbles mad and illogical capitalist conspiracy
theories. Everyone is a fascist,
everything is a fascist plot. Breaking rules is the rule.
The insane high point of the show is Hegley and Munnery in a
dramatised version of one of the Journals. They travel in verse and by train to
a seaside talent quest.
John plays himself. Munnery plays Tony, A glib West Indian,
the gay Maitre d', a fey mermaid and an 80 year beauty with a coat hanger in
her beard. Yes. Coat hanger and beard.
They have a some achingly funny sound effect gags, bad mime
and they play as a vaudeville double act who are hosts of the talent quest.
The Journals is inexplicable, funny and weird. Go see them.
They are sensational.
By Kate Herbert
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