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Half-Arsed Expectations Mat Balic Promethean Theatre Until Sat 6 March This behind the scenes look at the stand up comedy profession is a very well written piece of theatre. The audience is kept involved throughout this 60 minutes switching between a standup show and a backstage play. The main protagonist Joey D (a stand out performance by Mat Balic) is recently engaged and this causes him to examine his career in standup comedy. Whilst he is generally accepted as the most talented comic in comedy club owner Bill's stable, he has never been able to make a profession of it. Should he throw it in and get a real job? What follows are some good laughs and good fun. There were not-so-subtle digs at a number of comedians (give me a guitar, I could do a Tripod or Scared Weird Little Guys, it's not like it's hard) and well crafted standup routines whose occasional old jokes only befitted the club. The piece is demanding for the actors; not only do they have to learn a stand up routine but also the ensemble dialogue. Some of the actors coped with it better and generally the standup routines were stronger than the ensemble work. Despite what I'm sure were some audience plants (or at the least loud friends of the cast), it was a slow beginning and it took some time for the characters to emerge. Most didn't impress until their standup routine and the comedy club owner Bill (played by Bill Moloney) was the weakest of all, a great loss since he had some wonderful lines to impart. Fortunately the strength of the writing shines through and the likeable if flawed characters are entertaining. Whilst some of the production values may well have been half-arsed, the number of bums on seats wasn't and this show's popularity isn't an accident. Definitely one to see. |
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