Lawrence Leung
Learns To Breakdance
Bosco Theatre, The Garden of Unearthly Delights
until Sun Mar 2


Lawrence Leung is very much the centre of attention in the intimate space of the Bosco Theatre, a position he's not used to for, as he explains to us, he's lived his entire life in the shadow of his older brother Dennis. Dennis plays the bass guitar in a rock band, can open a beer bottle with his eye, and is all-around cooler than his little brother, or so Lawrence tells us. This inspires him to go on a quest to prove that he can out-cool Dennis once and for all.

With a combination of straight stand-up delivery, slides and video, Leung takes us through a series of challenges, including picking up women with professionally designed pick up lines and making his own fashionable clothes, that are meant to make him cool. In contrast, he describes at length the various childhood experiences that made him into the geek he is today. The show culminates in an upliftingly hilarious recording of his entry into a breakdancing competition, his first ever attempt no less.

The clever slide and video presentations are the best part of Leung's show; he clearly knows how to come up with an idea and make the most of it. The stand-up portion is less developed, and his delivery needs a little work, but Leung has such a level of natural enthusiasm that he always has the audience engaged and on side, even when the laughs tend more to chuckles than guffaws.

In the end, though, what makes this show so worthwhile isn't Leung's jokes or his videos, but the man himself. There's real heart at the basis of 'Lawrence Leung Learns To Breakdance'; a genuine story that a lot of people will relate to. It's one show at the Fringe you can be sure to leave feeling good.

Henry Nicholls