The Umbilical Brothers.
"A lot of what we do is about the mechanics of comedy," states
Shane Dundas, who together with David Collins make up the popular
physical comedy duo, The Umbilical Brothers. "But I think our
new show ['The Rehearsal'] goes even further in that direction
because it's about the creation of our comedy and it's done
in a kind of absurd, cartoonish fashion."
"We're fooling around with what happens during our rehearsals and it's not like we're rehearsing serious drama; again it's just a springboard for us mucking around with the fabric of comedy. In the show we do the opening, then we try to do the opening again where we're continually harassed by the sponsors who want certain things in the show. Then we also interrupt the show to take breaks at various points, and there's what we do during those breaks."
Being one of Australia's higher profile acts, both on stage and television, one would suspect that much of what's been sourced for this show has come from first hand experience and at times they must've been made to feel like a commodity.
"Yeah, there is that," resigns Dundas. "I think it came from where we've done shows in the US where we've had to sign enormously long contracts that have had all these stipulations, you know? Where just in exchange for them producing our shows over there they get to keep the rights for so many years and blah, blah, blah... Yet it's our product, we created it and we own it but we don't really own it. How do you maintain your creative independence when you've got these producers who think that they know comedy making all these suggestions?"
Knowing the unique chemistry the pair share together on stage, it does seem hard to imagine how any third party could interfere with their act.
"Yeah, we do exist in our own universe," laughs Dundas, "and we do have a certain shorthand that we can play off with each other, and that's where the magic happens for us when we're devising new scenes and creating new details. And that's how our shows evolve, but it can sometimes be an us and them situation.
"We've just finished shooting a TV series for kids for Sesame Workshops, who are the Sesame Street people in New York," he informs me. "They pursued us over a couple of years to make this show for kids but we just said that we didn't want to be The Wiggles because we're who we are. Then they finally said that no, it'll be our sense of humour manifested for kids.
" The show shot in the Fox Studios in Sydney and we were given so much input that even the other performers in the show had to tune into our wavelength because Dave and I are so used to working together that, when you get a third cast member it's them that has to jump into what we do.
"['The Upside Down Show'] is going to be a show for kids like you've not seen before," he allows, "and we've snuck in as much as we can for the adults. In other words there's going to be a bunch of nods and winks for parents so they don't have to go insane when they have to watch it over and over again." Look out for it mid-2006.
Steve Jones
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The Umbilical Brothers perform 'The Rehearsal' at Union Hall from Tues 7 March
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