Mr Kolpert

This show has anarchy, a definite post-modern morality and full frontal nudity, of both sexes, but the safest thing to say, is that this show is hilarious. You begin by walking in and seeing an actor monitor two electric puppies rotating and gyrating on the floor and immediately you are disarmed and charmed. Then he leaves. Then a peculiar couple come on and live house until their guests for the evening arrive. This is no drawing-room comedy. This is black comedy … pitch at times.

But it is also farce. In fact you could call it black farce, because instead of naked bods running around, popping in and out and bed-hopping, this has dead bodies hopping in and out of trunks. If you have ever seen Hitchcock’s Rope (1948) then you will understand the excitement of having a body in the trunk. The sheer fear within us that maybe we could commit murder is the dalliance that this creates and this leads to the only flaw in this show that I could detect - but I will come back to that at the end.

The first thing of note is Bastian (Garth Holcombe): an architect with anger management issues. He is hilarious as this stuck up fuckupwho holds our attention with dryness dotted with explosive outbursts. His ever smiling partner Edith (Paige Gardiner) - who is a comedic force just quietly - follows him until she gets kicked somewhere special and then she unleashes the monster within and almost becomes the protagonist in the second half. But this is an ensemble piece and this couple's OTT behaviour is only possible because of the lovely couple Ralf & Sarah (Tim Reuben & Claire Lovering) that invited them around for pizza in the first place. The irony is that they appear and behave more normal, yet they are the ones who are meant to have murdered Mr Kolpert from accounts.

Unfortunately the best seat in the house is taken by a post, but the overall atmosphere is great. This is helped by a lighting and music show that rocks the house. Intermittent fuel injections become moments of dance + mood that show the characters embracing the darkness (or truth) within. The dynamics of this show are outstanding for "fringe" offering. The sound designer and composer deserve a nod, as does the direction (Jimmy Dalton), which never fails to entertain. 

The only problem these performers probably need to be told is that they have no lack of the funny. The talent is there. The gags are not the problem. The only way to improve on this to have a sense of drama. I would love to see this show played dead straight. If they did this - this show would be so funny it would hurt. It would injure you. It would exhaust you with pleasure. Because the jokes, the chaos, the comic timing - the dynamics are all there. But if it was played like it was really happening - meaning the drama was more important than the laughs - then it would be the hottest ticket in town. The reason we have all seen Rope (1948) and the reason this play was written, was because of the drama of actually killing someone, sticking them in a trunk and inviting people round for dinner. That daring morbidity is there in this show but not enough. We need to contemplate this for real. What this show is doing is putting in enough drama just to make us laugh. But to really make us fly, they need to play it straight.

The show is still so entertaining that I would like to see it again and again (and I just might!). The disclaimer on the door said this show had vulgarities and nudities. This makes you enter with excitement and anticipation and this show delivers on that. We see Mr Kolpert finally and we all expect him to be the full frontal nude. And we have that playing on minds the whole show. Where is he, how is he and is he naked and dead? But instead it's other people, and the complete exposure of three attractive people is totally in place with the bedlam of the whole show. Just another dynamic. Just another wowser, of this go-to sure thing.

Gil Balfas

Images: Garth Holcombe; Tim Reuben, Edan Lacey and Claire Lovering; & Garth Holcombe, Claire Lovering, Paige Gardiner and Tim Reuben. Photographer: Gez Xavier Mansfield.