Perth Reviews

How to describe this simply superb night of hilarious, beautifully timed, raucous comedy? I can only say that I, like the rest of the sold-out audience around me, was hooting with laughter and wiping away tears of mirth.

His secret? A tightly composed series of brilliantly executed skits.

The key factor in this marvellous show was the close attention Garry Starr paid to his audience. He worked us like the trouper he is. Responsive to every reaction and charming enough to lure audience volunteers onstage to join him. Clad simply in a cloak, top hat and risable penguin feet. Yes that was all! Naked apart from those wardrobe items.

The stage was bare apart from a bookcase lined with copies of Penguin paperbacks, vivid in their trademark orange. That and a battered trunk containing useful props.

Off to a pacy start, Starr approached the bookcase and began to pluck out copies from right to left. These he laid on the top whereupon the image of the cover appeared on a large screen at the rear of the stage. The titles were the themes upon which Starr embroidered – The Little Prince, Moby Dick, The Story of a Murder and Dracula. This last involved Starr guzzling a bottle of red liquid: blood or cordial?

The Handmaid's Tale saw Starr rummage in the props trunk and assume an old fashioned wimple style headress. The Grapes of Wrath featured a mock battle between Starr and a male audience member who entered the fray with alacrity. He finished the fight pelting Starr wth the contents of a bag of grapes.

After an encounter with The Invisible Man, Starr was introduced to Little Women. Luckily he avoided stepping on one! 

A change of scene to the beach involved a marvellous mime of The Waves and The Body Surfers, and the whole audience joined in to create an enthusiastic wave scenario.

A scene from Treasure Island featured two male company members joining Starr in a piratical dance seeking buried treasure. This segued into The Time Machine, where the three men wore red rubber space masks and performed a nifty dance routine to end the show. It was an extraordinary display of clever mime and athleticism. It's not often you see cartwheels across a stage followed by an aerial jump over another seated artist. A tour de force. The house rose to a standing ovation.

The show runs until 2nd February with a show on 31st January in Bunbury. 

Don't miss it!