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.