Review: Damian Callinan in Robinson Crusoe
- Joe Calleri
- From: Herald Sun
- April 03, 2012 8:07PM
Damian Callinan in Robinson Crusoe at Melbourne Town Hall, Portico Room, until April 21
DAMIAN Callinan is a rare, clean-cut, clean-mouthed comic you could take your parents to see without anyone cringing.
His show’s success is its simplicity - clever storytelling, costumes, party games, killer dance routines – and no smut.
Callinan compares his lonely childhood with famous castaway, Robinson Crusoe, and his dance routine recounting Crusoe’s tale, incorporating songs with lyrical references to islands, ocean and being stranded, is worth the ticket price.
Callinan transports us to various stages in his life from four to 46, sharing intimate, often heart-breaking stories. His final dance routine is a ripper.
This is a cute, clever one-man show, light-hearted entertainment with few pretentions. The perfect comedy recipe.
Stars: ★★★★
Mark Thomas in Extreme Rambling (Walking the Wall)
- Joe Calleri
- From: Herald Sun
- April 03, 2012 3:32PM
Mark Thomas in Extreme Rambling (Walking the Wall), Trades Hall, until April 22
HERE'S an unusual show - part comedy routine, part history lesson, part travelogue - that comes out of left field. Or should that be The Left Bank.
In 2010, Mark Thomas decided to express support for the Palestinian cause by walking (rambling) the entire 723 km length of the Israeli-built West Bank Wall.
Precisely why Thomas and his cameraman put themselves and others in harm’s way, is never fully explained during this two-hour offering.
Thomas is hyper-active and sweaty, but a masterful story-teller, whose only props are two large-scale maps of the West Bank that show the Wall’s location. One of the maps doubles as a projector screen.
Along his ramblings, Thomas meets a weird, often scary assortment of Palestinians and Israelis. His impersonations of those persons are brilliant. This is a highly polished performance but Thomas stuffs his travelogue chock full of people, places and incidents, so you need to pay close attention lest you miss out critical details.
At the end of Thomas’s narrative, you will either think him courageous, or just another misguided idiot abroad.
Stars: ★★★★
Tom Gleeson in Good One, Melbourne Town Hall until April 22
HE may look and dress like your child's maths teacher (his own admission) but few teachers are blessed with Tom Gleeson's rapid-fire delivery, razor-sharp wit and assured stage presence.
In Good One, the thirty-something comic cheered us with insightful, hilarious and often scathing observations on the minutiae of everyday life.
From views on news and current affairs (the Gillard/Rudd spat, Aussies being arrested for buying drugs in Bali, stopping cyber-bullying by turning off your computer), to becoming a first-time father and travelling on a comedy cruise with your parents, Gleeson reveals himself to be the thinking man’s stand-up comic.
While these are issues that most audiences will easily relate to, few would have the openness and courage to speak about them as Gleeson does in his fine, polished routine. With clever, well-crafted comedy material and skilful timing, it's no surprise Gleeson's star continues to rise and rise.
Stick around to the very end of the routine and be surprise.
Stars: ★★★½
It succeeds due to its lack of pretention, shambolic simplicity (sight gags, fart and poo jokes never age), audience participation (myself included), a few sugary prizes for the kids, and an energetic, skilled kids’ entertainer who started off as a stand-up comic, and progressed to being a kids’ birthday entertainer. If you can survive that job with your sanity intact, you can survive anything!
Grey greets his audience garishly dressed like the Mad Hatter (right down to the wonderful, purple top hat) and his more frenetic lost cousin.
The show has some flaws: it lacks coherent themes, suffers from loose writing and direction, and some gags fall flat, but who the heck cares when your kids are enjoying themselves so much wrapping a mum in toilet paper, singing happy birthday, or throwing pillows at each other and some parents during a mass pillow fight. Priceless!
On the day of this performance, the small Northcote theatre was overflowing, with some children and parents resorting to sitting on the aisles. So, parents, please arrive at the theatre on time to secure seats.
When your kids yell that something was “awesome”, you know you have a winner.
Stars: ★★★½
Review: Matty Grey in Age-Less
- From: Herald Sun
- April 05, 2012
Matty Grey in Age-Less Supplied
Matty Grey in Age-Less at Northcote Town Hall until April 15
MATTY Grey’s new, 75-minute comedy show, Age-Less (which comes from Grey’s exhortation to the audience not to age), is designed for kids aged five to 12 years, plus their parents.It succeeds due to its lack of pretention, shambolic simplicity (sight gags, fart and poo jokes never age), audience participation (myself included), a few sugary prizes for the kids, and an energetic, skilled kids’ entertainer who started off as a stand-up comic, and progressed to being a kids’ birthday entertainer. If you can survive that job with your sanity intact, you can survive anything!
Grey greets his audience garishly dressed like the Mad Hatter (right down to the wonderful, purple top hat) and his more frenetic lost cousin.
On the day of this performance, the small Northcote theatre was overflowing, with some children and parents resorting to sitting on the aisles. So, parents, please arrive at the theatre on time to secure seats.
When your kids yell that something was “awesome”, you know you have a winner.
Stars: ★★★½
Review: Matty Grey in Age-Less
- Joe Calleri
- From: Herald Sun
- April 05, 2012 11:41AM
Matty Grey in Age-Less at Northcote Town Hall until April 15
MATTY Grey’s new, 75-minute comedy show, Age-Less (which comes from Grey’s exhortation to the audience not to age), is designed for kids aged five to 12 years, plus their parents.
It succeeds due to its lack of pretention, shambolic simplicity (sight gags, fart and poo jokes never age), audience participation (myself included), a few sugary prizes for the kids, and an energetic, skilled kids’ entertainer who started off as a stand-up comic, and progressed to being a kids’ birthday entertainer. If you can survive that job with your sanity intact, you can survive anything!
Grey greets his audience garishly dressed like the Mad Hatter (right down to the wonderful, purple top hat) and his more frenetic lost cousin. The show has some flaws: it lacks coherent themes, suffers from loose writing and direction, and some gags fall flat, but who the heck cares when your kids are enjoying themselves so much wrapping a mum in toilet paper, singing happy birthday, or throwing pillows at each other and some parents during a mass pillow fight. Priceless!
On the day of this performance, the small Northcote theatre was overflowing, with some children and parents resorting to sitting on the aisles. So, parents, please arrive at the theatre on time to secure seats.
When your kids yell that something was “awesome”, you know you have a winner.
Stars: ★★★½
Review: Behind You! Behind You!
- Joe Calleri
- From: Herald Sun
- April 06, 2012 5:53PM
Behind You! Behind You! at the Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre, Brunswick, until April 15
DURING this nightmarish show, one of the characters describes theatre critics as homophobes who demand gay theatre be about AIDS.
I’m not, I don’t, but I do demand theatre be well written, well performed and entertaining. This show is none of those things.
One of the few positives of this show is its gorgeous set, costume and make-up design. Those elements deserve five stars.
The show is divided into two halves and suffers from a split personality.
The first half is a conventional, though restrained, pantomime-style fairy-tale for adults, with gay gags and double entendres.
The thin narrated tale describes the misadventures of a miller’s son who inherits a flatulent cat, Puss, and together they meet kings, queens, ogres and The Dame who hams it up and sings a couple of cute, original ditties.
After the 20-minute interval the actors re-appear to play the actors who performed in the pantomime.
The second half of the show - a dreary, humourless melodrama - goes like this: Kevin (who cross-dresses in burqas) and Ken were lovers.But Kevin is about to marry a woman, Roslyn, who was having sex with Donna (a cross-dressing man).
Then there’s Tony who is keen on Ken, who still loves Kevin, and Ian who’s had sex with Tony and is still keen on him. Kevin and Ken eventually re-kindle their love and walk off together, as do Roslyn and Donna, and Ian and Tony. Good grief!
The only way to get laughs from this drivel would be if the bar-tender slips you laughing gas with your chardonnay.
Stars: ★½
Review: Valanga and Leo Dale in Big Game
- Joe Calleri
- From: Herald Sun
- April 04, 2012 5:23PM
Valanga and Leo Dale in Big Game at Footscray Community Arts Centre on April 3
BIG Game – the title has no connection with the show’s content – is a gentle, undemanding show which blends silly but inoffensive humour, songs and instrumental tracks for its target audience of parents with children aged under 10, and slightly older school groups.
This show has, apparently, been touring schools throughout Australia since 2000.
The two performers are South-African born Valanga Khoza and the immaculately-dressed, white-suited Leo Dale.
During the 65-minute running time of the performance (my inner child became quickly bored, and was thrilled when the show did not reach its advertised 120 minutes running time), they demonstrate themselves to be talented, versatile musicians. Valanga plays African drum, jew’s harp, a tiny sliver of paper (how did he do that?), a length of garden hose, a small, stringed musical box, guitar and a coffee container.
Dale also plays the sliver of paper, the flute, the big, baritone saxophone, and the soprano saxophone. I cannot fault their first-class musicianship.
But this show lacks content, real engagement with the young audience, dramaturgy and a cohesive narrative. The final question-and-answer session is superfluous.
Stars: ★★
Review Emma Zammit - Are You Finished With That?
- Joe Calleri
- From: Herald Sun
- April 08, 2012 10:50AM
Emma Zammit - Are You Finished With That?, Trades Hall, until April 22
Unfortunately, Emma Zammit runs out of comedic puff early on in the piece.
THE fake Today Tonight segment that opens Emma Zammit’s 45-minute stand-up routine informs us that this attractive, curvy, 30-year old brunette is addicted to and has a destructive and abusive relationship with food. She later confesses to being an emotional eater. Not a pleasant topic to listen to on Good Friday night at Trades Hall, but certainly one that in skilled hands should provide plenty of comedic mileage.
Alas for Zammit, she runs out of comedic puff pretty early in this piece. Yet again, here is a comedian believing they possess the requisite skill and material to hold an audience’s attention for longer than 10 minutes.
Her gossamer-thin routine, delivered unfortunately in a dull monotone and with a distinct lack of on-stage animation, lurches from discussing her and her family’s various food peccadilloes to joking about Zumba classes, to a silly audience participation quiz game that is the lazy, unimaginative comedian’s equivalent of that cheap, plastic, toy water pistol you use as a Christmas stocking filler just because you can’t be bothered giving anything more useful or appropriate.
Her gossamer-thin routine, delivered unfortunately in a dull monotone and with a distinct lack of on-stage animation, lurches from discussing her and her family’s various food peccadilloes to joking about Zumba classes, to a silly audience participation quiz game that is the lazy, unimaginative comedian’s equivalent of that cheap, plastic, toy water pistol you use as a Christmas stocking filler just because you can’t be bothered giving anything more useful or appropriate.
Emma: Audiences deserve to be served the very best filet mignon, not Maccas with fries!
Stars: ★½
Pop Up Playground
John Curtin Hotel, Carlton, April 5, 12 and 19, 2012
Reviewed by Joe Calleri
From: Herald Sun
March 30, 2012 6:58PM
OF THE various improvisational forms, long-form improvisation – where improvisers create lengthy narratives from titles provided by an audience – is the most challenging. Few improvisers possess the courage or skill to successfully pull off a long-form show.
For the seven members of comedy troupe Pop Up Playground, their level of ambition far outweighs their collective skills as improvisers, so their show is ultimately overly-long, static, unpolished and decidedly amateurish.
The basic premise of this show is that six of the seven performers are guild leaders (Blacksmith, Art Teacher, Farmer, Carpenter, Doctor, Tax Collector) in the fictional town of Arsington-Brown. The seventh performer narrates. The town is being terrorised by a werewolf that kills off the guild leaders one by one. The audience’s task is to guess which of the guild leaders is the werewolf.
For the seven members of comedy troupe Pop Up Playground, their level of ambition far outweighs their collective skills as improvisers, so their show is ultimately overly-long, static, unpolished and decidedly amateurish.
The basic premise of this show is that six of the seven performers are guild leaders (Blacksmith, Art Teacher, Farmer, Carpenter, Doctor, Tax Collector) in the fictional town of Arsington-Brown. The seventh performer narrates. The town is being terrorised by a werewolf that kills off the guild leaders one by one. The audience’s task is to guess which of the guild leaders is the werewolf.
While this form of guessing and role-playing game might be fun to play with children, or with close friends around the dinner table, without the benefit of skilled improvisers, it does not transition well to the stage.
The troupe are, regrettably, far too restrained and sedentary in their performances, and this show would greatly benefit from some heightened physicality and general chaos.
Audiences hungry for high-quality, well-performed improv, should catch one of Impro Melbourne’s Comedy Festival shows.
The troupe are, regrettably, far too restrained and sedentary in their performances, and this show would greatly benefit from some heightened physicality and general chaos.
Audiences hungry for high-quality, well-performed improv, should catch one of Impro Melbourne’s Comedy Festival shows.
Stars: ★
Alan McElroy in Giddy Up!
Joe Calleri
Stars:★
Published in Herald Sun online April 01, 2012 5:46PM
Loop Project Space and Bar, until April 1
HERE'S what we learn about 30-year old, Irish-born, Kiwi resident, Alan McElroy during his 60-minute debut solo stand-up show: he loves drinking cider on-stage, loves cheap booze from Aldi, as a cute toddler he resembled Irish actor, Colm Meaney, and he recently married a nurse, Laura. He’s also hyper-active and talks at the speed of light.
Those traits, unfortunately, impact negatively on his performance.
The successful parts of the routine are Alan’s reminiscences of growing up in Dublin. The slides showing Alan as an adorable toddler with his over-sized head, and stories of receiving hand-me-down Christmas presents are winners and should form the core of his routine.
Alan, as a budding comedian, slow down, and contemplate your fellow countryman, Jimeoin, that master of pace and timing, who can get laughs simply by standing and cocking an eyebrow.
By Joe Calleri
Stars:★
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