Monday 31 March 2014

Chairman Of The Board Games

If you enjoy nothing more than a roll of the dice or facing someone as they ask you a random question from a card then you'll love the Late Night Board Game Slumber Party.

Hosted by Melbourne-based British comedian Neil Sinclair and featuring three different guest comedians each night it is a game nerd's dream comedy show.
The format is straightforward - three comedians compete against one another over the course of several different games played within the hour to get as many points as possible in order to win a prize for their team mascot in the audience.

Points are awarded and removed by Neil Sinclair on a seemingly arbitrary basis, but supposedly for giving the best answers or being the most skilled if the round is physical such as the non-copyright infringing game where contestants must remove blocks from a stack and replace them on top without toppling the stack.

This is a great way for anyone to end an evening with lots of interactive fun, cheeky humour and underhand competitiveness.

Late Night Board Game Slumber Party is on at the Games Laboratory on Little Lonsdale Street each Friday and Saturday night during MICF at 10:45pm until April 12th.

Friday 28 March 2014

Skye High Limit

Back at the Tuxedo Cat, I was intrigued by Lisa-Skye's Lovely Tea Party - a late night combination of stand-up and chat show.
Last night her guests were Pajama Party themselves - Sarah Jones and Nicholas J. Johnson.
The show began with Skye welcoming us to her new show in characteristic flamboyance before she invited her guests onto the stage to give the audience a taste of what their show would bring.
This was very funny and gave a good taste of what to expect in their full show which I look forward to reviewing later in the festival.
Skye then asked her guests to pick categories from a board and would ask them questions on their fears, pet peeves and other topics
Skye is the perfect host for this style of irreverent show and if you're seeking something a bit different before you head home at the end of the night I heartily recommend seeing this.
Lisa-Skye's Lovely Tea Party is playing at the Tuxedo Cat on Wills Street in Melbourne at 10:45pm Thursday to Saturday and 9:45pm Sundays until April 20th.

Gentlemanly Misbehaviour

Do you like magic?
If you answered 'No' then we cannot be friends, I'm sorry. I love magic. Particularly the small-scale stuff. None of that making an elephant disappear or walking through the Eiffel Tower for me. I prefer my magic with a bit of personal interaction which is why I was delighted by the latest show from A Modern Deception, the incredibly talented trio of Alex De La Rambelje, Luke Hocking and Vyom Sharma.
Beginning with a mindblowing feat of prediction the astonished the packed audience with almost an hour of sleights, card tricks and other astonishing acts.
Audience members were invited to assist be supplying a shoe or a phone or simply their hand and there was joy to be had with each twist in the proceedings.
The presentation style of this trio is always warm and welcoming and there is never a hint of mockery so the audience know that they are in a safe space and can take part without fear of ridicule.
All due credit to their director Daniel Lammin who keeps the show pacy and tight.
A Modern Deception - Gentlemen Of Deceit is at The Spring Street Conference Centre, Melbourne CBD from 7:30pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings until April 19th.

Thursday 27 March 2014

Anger Management

The first night of MICF 2014 concluded with an hour of straightforward stand-up from Canadian Pat Burtscher.
His show Overwhelmed at the Tuxedo Cat, is an hour of his musings and rants on such subjects as monetary equality, drug education, life and death and whatever else crosses his Canuck mind.
Burtscher is angry - and this makes him hilarious. Venting his ire on stage to a full house last night he told the audience how he would solve many of the problems which the world has today from the injustice of CEO pay to climate change to the war on drugs.
His suggestions for the alternate uses to which the DEA might be put following the decriminalisation of drugs is one which should have the backing of all people living in large cities.
Pat's rambling, angry stoner delivery fits perfectly with his material and he held the audience in fits of laughter for the full running time of his show.
Overwhelmed is on at The Tuxedo Cat, Wills Street until the end of the Festival.

The Kraken Awaits

A man appears from the side of a stage dressed in jogging pants and lycra t-shirt. He is trying to reach for a pile of clothes on the other side of the stage but his way is hampered by lengths of coloured string tethering him. As he slowly, painfully makes his way across the stage, the tethers remove his clothes one item at a time.
Thus begins Kraken by Trygve Wakenshaw - a one-man mime show where Trygve acts-out a series of odd situations and interacts with the audience when they least expect it.
 There follow a series of scenes where Wakenshaw impresses with his audacity, flexibility and creativity. This is a young performer clearly enjoying his craft - entertaining an audience clearly enjoying what he has to offer.
Wakenshaw's imagination is ferocious and it is a testament to his abilities as a physical performer that the audience were drawn-into his imaginary world, laughing along and gasping in horror at all the right moments.
Although, frankly, what he was doing with that horse I don't think I want to know.
Kraken is on at the Tuxedo Cat on Wills Street in Melbourne at 20:30 until April 19th.

This Is the Way The World Ends...

Once upon a time there was a disaster.
And everybody died.
Everybody!
Stuart Bowden's show She Was Probably Not A Robot is the tale of the last human and the intergalactic robot which has watched over the planet for millenia.
With a face that is more beard than man, Bowden combines music, mime, comedy and drama to weave a tale which is at once touching, sweet, and hilarious.
The story of the last human survivor of a worldwide cataclysm and his attempts to continue leading a normal life takes the audience on a beautiful journey across oceans and across space. There is love, pain and wonder. There is also a hobby-horse.
Set adrift on his waterbed across the oceans after massive tidal waves have engulfed every city in the world, we follow our protagonist as he comes to term with his loneliness and isolation, all the time watched from above by an alien robot with a child's voice which has been working on a secret project light years away.
Bowden's transformations from hapless adventurer to floating space robot are a delight to observe and the delivery of his tail amazes and delights at every turn.
The protagonist's journey across the streets of the city on his waterbed involve the audience directly as he wandered amongst us, describing the meandering route his bed was taking. Avoiding being hit in the face or back of the head with the inflatable bed was a skill in itself.
The character of the robot is one which brings a simple pure delight and had the audience giggling along as the silvery object drifted across the stage commenting on the dramas on the planet below.
This is a very well performed and written piece which will delight and entertain and is on at Tuxedo Cat, Wills St. in the CBD until Sunday April 6th.