Written by Daniel Clarkson & Jefferson Turner
Comedy
Theatre, Melbourne, Oct 16 to 21, 2012
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars:****
Review also published online for Herald Sun on Oct 18, 2012. KH.
POTTED POTTER IS A TOTALLY IRREVERENT AND STUPIDLY FUNNY PARODY of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books – all seven of them in 70 minutes.
There is no flashy set or
lighting design, spectacular animatronics, elaborate costumes or massive cast
because Rowling’s 300+ characters are whittled down to about twenty and are all
played by two genuinely goofy, adorable actors, Jesse Briton and Gary Trainor.
Don’t expect stylishly
accurate characterisations or lightning-fast physical transformations because
this is cheesy, school play style acting that mercilessly ridicules the
earnestness and complexity and sheer length and breadth of the Potter series.
Most gags arise from
Jesse never having read the books and, therefore, creating wildly inaccurate
characters: Ron Weasley is a rap-talking, housing estate kid, Voldemort has red
devil’s horns, Snape has a shoddy, French accent, Hagrid wears an afro wig, and
Hermione has plaits and a crusty baritone.
Jesse spent the entire
budget on the flying dragon in book four, so the exasperated Gary, the serious
Potter fan who plays Harry, is appalled as all his favourite scenes go down in
flames and he becomes the butt of every gag.
You need to know and love
the books to appreciate this show, and the audience of kids and parents roared
at every crazy error of narrative and cheered as Gryffindor and Slytherin
supporters in a riotous, on-stage Quidditch game.
Gary’s portrayal of the
Quidditch golden snitch is hilarious, Jesse’s powerpoint presentation of the
entire book three is inspired, the Tri-Wizard Cup is skilfully scaled down to
trivial silliness, and the entire Deathly Hallows story is sung to the tune of
I Will Survive.
I was anticipating a
finely wrought, theatrical satire (think Charlie Ross’s One Man Lord of the
Rings), but this charming duo and their mad romp of anti-art won me over and I
laughed until my jaw ached.
By Kate Herbert
No comments:
Post a Comment