Melbourne Reviews

My mother corrects my English in my text messages. She says there is just no room in this world for grammatical errors. Typos included. It’s inexcusable. Mark Butler is now king in our household. Why? Because he knows. He knows that the apostrophe breakup is not only ok, it’s a requirement for keeping one’s standards intact. (Hear hear! my mother cries, bravo Mark Butler, bravo! Yes, I think she may have taken his show slightly too seriously).

Mark Butler, you see, once broke up with a girl for writing Sausage Roll’s on a bakery window because he thought it highly unlikely that the store was owned by one. Too harsh, you ask? Butler lets his audience act as judge and jury. Soon a stockpile of examples is amassed on stage and Butler cleverly guides his (mostly grammar geeky, so it seemed on Friday night) audience through the highs and lows of love, sex, relationships and just what an errant apostrophe, or LOL, may get you in this day and age.

It’s extremely funny stuff. The music quiz toward the end of the show is highly entertaining. I never thought I’d find myself in an audience singing “whip it, whip it well”.

Butler is like a sexy Rowan Atkinson on speed who’s swallowed a dictionary. The show has a terrific combination of wit, quirk, geek and sass. If you can’t stand youse and redundant acronym syndrome syndrome, if you have friends who can’t write a sentence without 15 exclamation points at the end of it, or if you’ve ever been in love, experienced online dating, or had sex, this is the show for you.


2011 Melbourne Fringe Festival
Grammar Don't Matter on a First Date
Mark Butler

Venue: Portland Hotel | Cnr Russell & Little Collins St, Melbourne
Dates: 22 Sept – 1 October, 2011
Tickets: $20.00 – $10.00
Bookings: www.melbournefringe.com.au