By Jennifer Beasley.
6 comedy skit s+ audience interaction = a 5-star theatre drinking game.
When my brilliant editor sent me this opportunity to review a theatre drinking game, my fingers suffered the afterburn of a speedy reply. I expected, and received, an absolutely brilliant time.
Held at the Motley Bauhaus over a 2 hour period with a short break, this innovative and hilarious idea takes six short plays and has 3 interactive moments in each play where the audience MUST cheer (drinking is optional).
The interactive moments are as follows:
-An actor covers their mouth;
-A towel appears;
-An actor says, ‘looks like a dog’s breakfast.’
This concept has been devised by Caz Dawes (Sally Carrot Is A Fraud) and Cat Holder (Café Play!) and had a sold out season at the International Comedy Festival. And with good reason as this is so much fun!
Handing out cute sparkly wavy things (like bon bons from footy games), and equipped with drinks and good cheer, we began the first of the 6 plays, which are segmented by a 20-minute interval half-way through.
Stalling, written by Olivia Mitchell (Zoey Becomes A Comet) and Madeleine Lacy, and performed by both, these girls really gel, easily engaging the audience, as this Christmas themed skit journeys through twists and turns and still resolves into an unexpected ending. Good writing (in fact, all the pieces presented were well written) and both girls are very funny and kept within their characters. Thoroughly enjoyable and a great piece to start the series. Oh, and we all cheered whenever the 3 moments occurred too and waved our sparkly sticks!
Brendon T. Stallings (Engaged!) and hailing from Chicago (welcome to Oz mate), wrote the next piece, Arcane Vs Divine, an esoteric conversation between a power mad wizard, and a seemingly devout God Worshipper, acted by Mikalia Imaguchi (Miss Siagon) adding a pristine turn and bubbling with opposing ‘pureness’. Odysseus Pollock (My Brother, My Brother, My Brother), rounds out this trio as the bartender who gets dragged into the argument. A great premise from this writer, and well done with the sound effects and lighting from the production team, it really added that ‘magical’ element!
Dawes and Holder present their own skit, Take Charge. Wonderfully ominous (great use of dark and light subject matter here), it explores fanatism, in this case an actor and a morgue technician. Pushing the absurdist qualities, these two actors work seamlessly together, and know where to place the laughs.
Intermission gives the crowd a chance to run to the loo, but not before the ticket raffle is drawn. Sadly, I did not win either the free drinks voucher or the giant Santa tree topper, but my companion annoyingly did. His glee was evident and ‘Santey’ was strapped into the rear seat on the drive home. I know that drive back will haunt me forever.
Play number 4, NQR, written by Mazz Ryan (part of Melbourne Writers’ Theatre and been involved in many productions,) is easily the best of the show, which doesn’t detract from the high level of writing from the others, rather, it shows how high the bar was set in terms of talent, both in writing and acting. Every woman, and a few men in the audience, were squirming as this visit to a Gynae, the doctor played by Mazz Ryan, turns into a trip into incompetence, satire and the ridiculousness of the medical profession. River Romano (All Of This Could Be Yours) plays the hapless patient, whose medical condition is, er, rather sensitive. The two assistants, Kym Tonkin (Feast), is restrained and quietly bonkers, and the delightful Lulu Lala, who is just flat out bonkers (great facial mobility. Honey, you stole the show!) assist the incompetent doctor. In a past incantation I’d been a nurse and Mazz nailed all these characters. Scary, but true. The bit where the medical staff decide to practice a musical number while they wait for the numbing cream to work? Yep, seen it happen! Rounding off the cast is Andrea Reichart and Maggie Brown (Kindness). All characters equally engaging with no dead spots at all. Well done Ryan for forming Not Done Yet, a collective for the over 55’s. I hope you are never ‘done’.
Next, we are sprinkled with Live! With The Fairy Friends. Awww. Cue two ‘fairies,’ fake wings, overdone makeup, ballet flats and freeway wide smiles, Victoria Angelique Mertzanidis (Op Shop Till You Drop) and Sian Dowler (Ned Kelly: The Big Gay Musical), are sickeningly sweet – until things start to go off the rails on live TV. Mertzanidis’s fake laugh, and Dowler’s forced eye-popping smile really take things to the next level of kookiness. This is what happens when disenchanted fairies have to deal with normal life. By this stage several of the audience missed a few of the interactive moments, having topped up their drinks during the break, and some of the wavy things hit the floor to have a wee lie down.
Lastly, Pamsquale jiggled onto the stage. This happening duo, Pamela Parker and Pasquale, must have stepped right out of a sitcom. Pasquale presents as a ‘Con the Fruitier’ crossed with a road accident. It was nutty, yet the two actor/performers have a great bond. A solid performance and skit and they should give the ABC a ring and get a show on.
A great concept, well executed with excellent support from lighting and sound and great use of stage and sets. Brilliant, keep it going!
Comedy On The Rocks (@cotr_theatre) • Instagram photos and videos
Comedy On The Rocks plays at The Motley Bauhaus, at 3:30pm, until Saturday December 14th, 2024.
Image: Ian Thrussel
