Amazed: Nicholas Tweedy is the Reality Bender
The Cavern Club, Station Arcade
7-13 March,
Nicholas Tweedy is the antithesis of the magician cliché. There are no star- and moon-studded coats and top hats, no rabbits, and no bifurcating of scantily-clad women. Dressed simply in a black jacket with his daggy beard platted into three straggly tendrils, Tweedy keeps his show’s emphasis on audience participation, delivering a speakeasy feel to the underground Cavern venue. A low-key, guy-next-door type, Tweedy holds no airs as he talks to the audience as old friends, casually explaining the subtle differences between magic and mentalism. He practices the latter, an art form that uses sleight of hand, eagle-eyed perception, an intricate understanding of human behaviour and the classic magician’s tool of distraction to pull off some truly amazing tricks. This is the magic show for magic sceptics who secretly still get a buzz from being stumped, stunned and stimulated.
Dead Cat Bounce
Cinema Nova, Rundle Street
3-13 March
At its most basic, this show could be described as a rock comedy. But this would sell short a raucously hilarious hour of tongue-in-cheek ballads, power chords, ego and machismo hiding an understated but scathing critique of the music industry. Dead Cat Bounce the band is a classic 80s-style rock four piece, boasting deliciously tacky keyboards, intentionally faux but somehow potent drums, bouncy bass and shredding, finger-tapping lead guitar. But don’t expect a rock concert; although the music has merit in its now-fashionable homage to the age of big-hair rock, the magic is in the hilariously loaded or sometimes overtly sexual lyrics, and in the band’s razor-sharp dialogue, among themselves and with the audience. Each band member has a story, a history, a personality – and they are all wonderfully identifiable stereotypes. The lead is a shameless and egotistical womaniser, the drummer a self-deprecating and awkward clown, the keyboardist the requisite fun-loving rascal and the bassist the life-worn cynic. They could be any band of their beloved era, and that’s why this show works so darn well. They are having a lend of the rock genre and paying respects at the same time, and it is so much fun. My belly hurt for days after this show. Don’t miss it.
The Rap Guide to Evolution
The Hive, The Garden of Unearthly Delights
20 February to 13 March (except 8 March)
This show’s title may be self-explanatory, but it’s still unlike anything you’ll have ever seen. Baba Brinkman is a Canadian rapper, a man truly in love with the hip hop and rap genres. He takes this obsession with rap, mixes them with his own rhyming and freestyling skills and applies the blend to the works of Charles Darwin, overlaying aspects of evolutionary theory upon his own beats as well as those of his favourite rap and hip hop stars. While not laugh-a-minute (given that the show sits under the theatre genre rather than comedy), Brinkman’s ability to entertain and inspire with lyrics around what could be a dry subject is truly engaging. His approach to the topic material is multi-faceted and self-referential; he actually explains the emergence of rap and hip hop culture in the context of modern evolutionary theories that now branch into the controversial realm of evolutionary psychology.
I came away from this show both entertained and educated, and with a desire to know more. While some consider evolutionary theory inhuman in its alleged attempts to explain away human responsibility, Brinkman builds it into something exciting, mysterious and hopeful. There are many, many reasons to see this show, so if you have the slightest shred of interest in evolutionary theories – even if you think you hate rap – you should give it a go.
Steve Hughes – Heavy Metal Comedy
Rhino Room, downstairs room
March 2-6, 9-13
You won’t be surprised to know that Steve Hughes is an angry man. But it’s not heavy metal that made him angry, nor is it that he’s into metal because he’s angry. Instead, it’s his past as a heavy metal guitarist and a fan of all things metal that gives him a platform for his comedy which, in turn, gives him a platform to rail against the things that anger him.
This show kicks off with out-and-out hilarity. Steve’s style is casual but precisely controlled, and with his manic expressions and metal-paced dialogue you could imagine him performing live on commercial television, as much as he’d hate to hear that. His best laughs come from observations of Australians – as an expat now living in the United Kingdom his observations of we have changed over two decades years are razor-sharp and dead-on accurate. Local audience can’t help but laugh at the realities they see in themselves, and you can’t help but like him. Later into the show, Steve’s anger sometimes takes precedence over his comedic talents, and the mood drops off. Although you might agree with his vitriolic sprays on the state of the world, the audience is left uncomfortably unsure of whether to laugh, and levity is suddenly and startlingly lost. He does draw the atmosphere back before the momentum is lost, but the draining effect resonates and you’re left wishing you could have hung onto the earlier moments when you were out of breath from guffaws. That complaint aside, Steve uses humour as a great contrast to the things that anger him, and the delivery of his stories is without par for their sheer hilarity. The combined effect makes for an odd show, but an enjoyable and provocative one. See it.
The List Operators
The Hive, The Garden of Unearthly Delights
Shows now concluded
This two-man explosion of spontaneity could so easily go wrong, treading the line of political correctness and testing it relentlessly The principle of The List Operators is simple but wonderfully original – Matt Kelly and Richard Higgin create lists and enlist the audience to help complete them. The result should be complete chaos, but the duo – having worked together for near on a decade – manage to bounce off each other and the bustling energy they generate through their madcap interaction with the crowd to wind in set-pieces that tickle the funny bone and poke at political raw nerves. The jokes and stunts test our culture’s sensitivity to religion, racism, sexism and pretty much every ‘ism’, turning our own reactions back on ourselves with hilarious results. This rapid-fire show succeeds as a comedy that gets you think, but should you choose to approach it purely as entertainment, it’s a winner on that score as well.
Caliente – The Brazilian Samba Choro Group'
Nexus Cabaret, Lion Arts Centre and Café Komodo, Prospect Road
Shows now concluded.
This energetic and talented five-piece group plays both Samba and Choro styles of traditional Brazilian music using clarinet, mandolin, guitars, light percussion and the cavaquinho – a small four-stringed guitar. The upbeat, pepped and fun aural experience is supplemented by racy, skilled live Samba dancing by dancers that join the band on stage whenever the mood draws them from the wings. These exciting performances, however, were sadly hobbled by a venue that didn’t really suit the show’s needs. Cabaret-style seating limited ideal viewing options, meaning anyone failing to secure a prime table to the front and centre of stage was relegated to the sides of stage. From here the audience achieved at best a narrow field of vision and the view of the dancers was obscured by the stage curtains. The dancers were also given an excruciatingly-small area in which to work their magic; while this might have demonstrated their skill it most likely cramped their style as well. All that said, the experience was more for the ears than for the eyes, and my ears enjoyed it. I’d certainly go back for another go in a more suitable venue.
Zack Adams: Love Songs for Future Girl
The Tuxedo Cat
Shows now concluded
Young Western Australian comic Zack Adams bares his soul and digs deep into the heart of anyone who in their 20s found, messed up and lost love – which pretty much captures all of us. Love Songs for Future Girl is a one-man musical comedy that tells a hilarious but heart-wrenching tale of Zack’s lost loves in a narrative reminiscent of Nick Hornby’s magnificent rock comedy novel High Fidelity. Many of the stories are simply too funny to be true, but the hilarity behind the painful honesty of his cutting, insightful lyrics compensate for any flaws in fact. Throughout his awkward and tragic journey, navigated by music and punctuated with floating highs and devastating lows, Zack breezily carries the audience between his story and their own, demonstrating deft skill not only with the comedian’s mic and his beloved guitar but also in manipulating emotions he knows we have all experienced.
The intimacy of this show is made all the more effective by the choice of venue; the Tuxedo Cat Studio on Synagogue Place is a tiny place laden with character and a sense of old-school theatrical history; this helps build the sense that we’re with Zack throughout his hardships and failings, and you can’t help but enjoy the camaraderie. The comedy mightn’t be suitable for all audiences – there are some adult themes and grown-up language, and the occasional transgression of the borders of good taste – but beyond that, you realise you’re watching a new comedic talent on the rise.
So You Think You Can Get F#cked Up?
Tuxedo Cat Rooftop
Shows now concluded
Upfront I should indicate the show’s own warning that this show contains coarse language, sex scenes, nudity, drug use and adult themes.
If you’re still reading and you can put your sensibilities on hold for a blistering 40 minutes, this show will almost kill you with laughter. Adelaide talent Sebastian Carboncini throws any semblance of respectability aside to brutally skewer the current obsession with television talent shows, turning the genre toward the seamier, unspoken side of the western culture – drug and alcohol addiction. Carbonicni plays the show’s host, Robbie Butterknob, as well as the three disgraceful contestants, making whirlwind costume changes under the cover of side-splitting faux advertisements that break up the performances.
Apart from the single television presenting the gut-busting mock adverts, Carboncini relies on the sheer force of his charisma to drive the show. And he succeeds admirably; the amount of energy he belts out is incredible, and his enthusiasm is infectious. At the show’s conclusion, the crowd was begging for more but Carboncini was spent. He is a truly committed performer, and although the content isn’t appropriate to everyone, he is worth watching regardless.